Say thanks.

I often tell my students that this class is about much more than chemistry. Not only do we learn about reactants, products, and stoichiometry, but we also talk about life skills that are far more lasting. …and in our classroom…one such topic is thankfulness. We discussed this earlier in the semester as one of our Chem+ bellringer topics.

We talked about what it means to be thankful, whether or not it is easy to be thankful, and what groups of people may not be told “thank you” enough. One of the groups we discussed was our custodians at our school. We are in a new building this year, and they work so hard to keep our school grounds clean. I have had the privilege to get to know several of our custodians this semester by being at school early and staying late, and I get to see their work firsthand. It’s also especially admirable that they each go about it with a smile and good attitude.

I talked with my students about this, and we passed around thank you notes for the class to sign for the custodian that worked on our respective floor. I hope this will help my students as I try to help cultivate within them eyes that look out for more than just their own interests. The custodians also really appreciated it, which is just one way that we can invest into building our school community where all are important and valued.

So...go be courageous and teach more than the curriculum in your classroom. It will make you and your students better.