Dear May Teacher,
Three little letters: M-A-Y. These letters MAY not seem like much to the average person, but to a teacher, they are a beautiful, beautiful sight. They signal the final lap of an exhausting race.
Granted, the last lap for many teachers isn’t until June, but we’re not going to talk about that. Besides, June doesn’t count. It’s a denial month. As far as I am concerned after Memorial Day, the school year is dead, and if it’s not, it might as well be.
By that point, teachers and students alike are wearing Bermuda shorts and sunglasses in the hallways. I once had a boy bring a surfboard to class in June. Needless to say, all learning in June is reduced to a vegetative state of grunts, sighs, and surfing or coasting as some might call it.
So yeah, like I said, for all intents and purposes, MAY is the last month of school, and I like that the school year ends with an interrogative word denoting permission, such as,
“MAY, I go to the restroom?”
“MAY, I remove my mask?”
“MAY, I stop asking for permission?”
“Yes, as a matter of fact, you MAY, as soon as it is no longer May.”
MAY- Be, we will all Be a little more free in MAY, but until then, I want to draw your attention to the fact that you have done what no other teacher in the history of education has ever done. You have taught over 150 days in the midst of a global pandemic.
Do you hear what I am telling you?
Read it back again.
You have taught over 150 days during a global pandemic.
For crying out loud, I saw a mask in a vending machine today. This is not normal. Even if we have been doing it so long it feels normal, it is not normal.
Never before, nor will we ever again (hopefully), see this, and you played a critical role on the front lines.
There’s a reason you’re exhausted.
It bears repeating for a third time.
You have taught over 150 days during a global pandemic.
Do you know what that means?
It means even though you feel ordinary, you are a legitimate, Purple Star, bonafide hero, so the answer, is emphatically, 100% yes, if you are asking,
“MAY, I take a break now?”
-CDB