Last week, I completed a follow up presentation to a school staff, that I’ve worked with this past year. In my first presentation, the staff was introduced to Miss Patty in the video The Calling. It is a video from a father who expresses his gratitude for his little girl receiving the gift of learning from a teacher named Miss Patty. I followed up in my next presentation, with a short video entitled Being Mr. Jensen, which is from the perspective of an adult recalling his life changing teacher. After the video, I asked the staff to write down the name of one or two students in the school that they were a Miss Patty or Mr. Jensen for, this past year. Names flew across the chat box because educators (everyone in the school setting) took a special interest in one, two or more students in hopes of changing the life trajectory to a more positive path. That is what educators do, but until you ask them that question, they seldom reflect on what those extras mean in the life of a child.
Some of those students may have had tough home lives or needed a boost of confidence or simply needed a caring adult to advocate for them but regardless, the influence of those educators made a difference. While the poor teacher is often held up as the example of the teaching profession, the truth is, that most educators go above and beyond and are a Miss Patty or Mr. Jensen to a student everyday.
After presenting this point as a retired superintendent, I put on my dad hat. As many of you who know me, we have two children. Our daughter was a pretty compliant and good student and didn’t get into much trouble in school and had a great number of educators who were either Miss Patty or Mr. Jensen. Our son on the other hand, was gifted in social intelligence (that means he was quite the talker) and tended to live on the edge or step over the rules line a fair amount. However, I know what it felt like as a dad when one of his educators became his Miss Patty or Mr. Jensen. I look back at those individuals with so much gratitude because they saw our son for all of his goodness and strengths and not everything that was negative.
Every teacher cannot be everything to every child but every child requires at least one Miss Patty or Mr. Jensen in their lives everyday. Schools (regardless of the size) that have formal procedures in place that ensure that every child has a Miss Patty or Mr. Jensen are so much farther ahead on the social emotional learning scale. It is not that some children won’t still fall through the cracks but intentional action will see more positive life changing interactions for students.
In this crazy pandemic year, educators has been nothing short of superheroes even though governments haven’t considered them to be frontline workers and have characterized them as simply a “special interest group!” My message is one of great gratitude to the Miss Pattys and Mr. Jensens in the educational trenches and my challenge is for all educators to remember their influence and importance and to ensure that they continue to make a difference in the live of a child each and every day!
