The week before spring break was teacher and staff appreciation week at ANCS. Our PTCA, students, and families provided an outpouring of appreciation in the form of kind notes, gifts, delicious meals, and more. And our teachers and staff—at ANCS and in all schools–are certainly deserving of our appreciation. In the close to 20 years I’ve worked in public schools, I’ve seen teachers and staff members regularly go above and beyond the “requirements” of their jobs to show care for students in ways small and large, like spending their own money on students, attending events (both school and non-school related) in which students are involved, and putting in time on weekends and over breaks to support students.
Two examples of ANCS educators “going above and beyond” took place just last week when our middle campus assistant principal Mark Sanders and the director of our Center for Collaborative Learning Elizabeth Hearn led groups of students on powerful learning experiences.
For the past few years, Mark has worked throughout the school year with a small group of young men from our middle campus. The group, known as “The Brotherhood”, come together with Mark on a regular basis to discuss issues confronting young men of color. One of the culminating events is a trip over spring break to Alabama to explore important civil rights sites. This past Monday, Mark—joined by teachers Aaron Goodson and Nathan Bubes—brought the group to visit Selma and Montgomery, all along the way reflecting on what they were seeing and learning.
At the same time as The Brotherhood’s visit to Alabama, a separate group of students from ANCS and a few other local schools were in the midst of a multi-day stretch of experiencing homelessness through the “Experiment in Living” organized for many years now by Elizabeth Hearn. From Saturday to Tuesday, these students discussed issues of food insecurity, homelessness, social justice, and more, spurred on by visiting with individuals who are homeless, going to social service agencies, and constructing a shelter. All the while, they were given only a few dollars to get by and slept overnight outside.
I cannot do justice to either of these experiences through words, so please take a look at some of the pictures from them posted on my Facebook page to get a better sense of what they were like. The time, effort, and thoughtfulness these educators put into crafting these opportunities for our students—all over what was a holiday break for most—is worthy of our appreciation.