Mr. Teacher

Things I'm Thankful For

by John Pearson

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! Since my column happens to fall exactly on the holiday this year, I thought it would be a good time to write about all of the things that I am thankful for this year. Let's just pretend we're sitting around the dinner table, taking turns giving thanks. I'll go first.

First of all, I should of course give thanks to Al Gore for creating the Internet and thus providing me a means of communicating these thoughts directly to you.

Next, I am incredibly thankful, year after year, that God saw fit to create the bird known as the turkey. I am a big fan of the chicken, but when it comes to meals that make my mouth water a week in advance, there is no substitute for a nice roasted turkey. (As a corollary to that, I should add that I am also thankful for the creation of mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, stuffing, and a little thing I like to call the cranberry.)

Also, I am thankful to have survived the Reduction in Force levied by my school district last month and grateful to remain gainfully employed. Furthermore, I am even more thankful to have been moved to a position where I have such a wonderful class. I have kids who say, "This is fun!" as we're doing our math work in class. I have students who shout, "YESSS!!!" when I assign homework. I even have a couple of students who have said, "Thank you for teaching me math!" It's like a Christmas miracle, and it's not even Christmas yet!

Following up on that last one, I am thankful that my current crop of students has very supportive parents. Not once have any of them blamed me for causing their children to fight on the playground. None of them have hung up on me when I have expressed concern over their child's classwork. One of them even came up to the school to see why her son had not brought home his conduct folder the week before. Turns out, he had forged her signature. She didn't even blame me for that!!