Teach Your Children Well

I usually don't post a lot of "personal" photos on this blog, but today I am feeling the need. Today was a very special day, and not just because the Sex & The City movie opened. The past few months I've been shooting a lot and not posting as much. I've been crazed and even more of a disaster than I normally am. The reason? I've been teaching 6th grade English. I haven't mentioned it on my blog because I wanted to maintain the privacy of the school and students. I didn't want to use this forum to vent or gloat or anything like that. Now it's different. Today was my last day!! I'm not going to start revealing deep dark secrets, but I feel like I can talk about it now, at least in abstract terms. It was such an amazing experience. Hard, stressful, wonderful... I learned something new every day. I learned more about myself, about 12 year olds, and about grammar than I ever wanted to know! After school today, a handful of my wonderful colleagues took me out to celebrate. Here we are in all our after-school glory!



I can not even tell you how lucky I am to have worked with these people. I will sing it from the rooftops if I need to (and anyone who knows me knows I'll do it). They are amazing educators. Passionate. Dedicated. Funny. They are leaders. I was honored to go to work with them every day. As a photographer, when I'm not on a shoot, I spend most of my days alone, working on the computer. To show up at a workplace everyday was something I hadn't done in a while. I really looked forward to the adult camaraderie, so much so that I think my co-workers got tired of my constant chit-chatting! Yet, they were patient and harmlessly indulgent. I am going to miss seeing them every day. I'm posting these photos to honor them (even though they may be less than thrilled - ha ha) and to say thank you, publicly. As a society, we can not underestimate the importance of our educators. They deserve more praise than I could ever give them. Thank you thank you thank you!