Word: Gratitude

Sentence:

Gratitude is more than appreciation; it’s how we pay forward what others once gave to us.

Passage:

My first real mentor came by luck. She was a district instructional coach on a building walkthrough with the chief of schools, the principal, and a few other district leaders. She took a seat in the back of my classroom, asked my students a few quiet questions, and when the group moved on, she stayed. She watched the rest of the lesson start to finish.

She was a bit of an educational rebel – curious, bold, unafraid to challenge what we accepted as normal. After class she asked me as many questions as she asked the kids. Not just about the lesson, but about how I built relationships with students. She noticed that even though my kids were reading far below grade level, they were engaged and they cared.

We exchanged information and began talking regularly about teaching. She pushed my thinking past the predictable. I tried a four-week unit on humor, something completely different, and my students lit up. Her belief helped me take risks I wouldn’t have taken on my own.

Those early risks changed me. I’ve carried that lesson ever since. Her time and trust changed the way I taught and the way I lead. And with Thanksgiving around the corner, I’m reminded that gratitude isn’t limited to education. Every profession is shaped by the people who saw something in us and took the time to guide us. Gratitude becomes real when we pass that gift forward.

Today, my gratitude for her shows up in how I support an assistant principal to become a principal or help a principal navigate a hard moment. We’ve all been helped along the way. The highest form of gratitude is to pour into someone else the way someone once poured into you.

Your Turn:

Who took a chance on you, and how are you paying that forward to someone else today?

If this word speaks to you, consider passing it along to someone you’re grateful for.