Blog Note from the Future

I am travelling back in time to post some blogs that got lost in a bitter shuffle. The date these blogs are actually being posted is May 1, 2016, but the publication date on the blogs will show when they were actually written and should have been posted. I hope they will not appear out of order in the blog feed. Here's the scoop: A few years ago, a new school administration changed the Student of the Month recognition. Something that used to be an organic, genuine recognition of deserving students became, for the most part, an obligatory monthly pony show, which provided teachers far less time to say good things about the students they were honoring and far more pressure to select students to "honor," even if they may not have deserved that kind of recognition. Some teachers now refuse to nominate anyone, ever, claiming that any student who is given such an unmerited honor will then turn into an arrogant discipline case in class. I've never felt that way, nor have I ever lied or exaggerated about a student in order to create the illusion of wonderfulness. The students I recognize deserve to be honored, even if the way they are selected serves style over substance and the amount of time I am given to praise them has been slashed. Consequently, I want to remember these fabulous people here as I did in the old days. Although they have moved on to high school, I still remember all of these students fondly.