As most – if not all – teachers know, many of us are very tired right now.

Here in California, most of us have been doing full-time virtual teaching for a year now, and it’s tough (I also know that many people have it rougher than us).

I thought I’d try something simple to boost the morale of some of my colleagues, and thought that others might find the idea helpful.

As regular readers know, I send out a weekly Google Forms check-in to my students.

I added a question to this week’s check-in:

Teaching by computer is not easy for teachers. If there is one teacher who you think is doing a particularly good job this year, please write the teacher’s name and what you like about his/her class (you probably weren’t thinking of it, but please don’t list Mr. Ferlazzo). Mr. Ferlazzo will send emails to those teachers sharing some of the comments you make (without listing your names) and send copies of those emails to the principal.

 

Many students were very thoughtful in their responses, and I followed through by passing them along (I had also told our principal ahead of time what I wanted to do and he was very supportive).

The replies I received from my colleagues was indicative, I think, of how many of us are feeling.

The typical one was “Boy, I needed to hear that this morning!”

Based on its reception, I thought that others might want to give it a shot.  If you do, let me know how it goes!