The mascot at the school where I teach is the mighty Viking warrior, and there is a tradition among staff members to pass along a Viking ship from staff member to staff member as a way of honoring each other for the work that we do. It is usually handed off each month at our staff meetings but because we had not been meeting very regularly for these faculty meetings, it had not yet made an appearance this year.
I am very honored to say that I was the recipient of it this month and it came at just the right moment. I have been feeling down about how I've been teaching this year - and it was nice to see that maybe I'm not as bad as I think I am. Having less prep time and two new-ish classes to teach has had me feeling extremely stressed out, behind, and inadequate. Thus, it was extremely nice to get this pat on the back at this particular moment - I'm sure it staved off the emotional meltdown that had been threatening to arrive for a few weeks.
The best part? I get to impart this wonderful feeling to someone at our next faculty meeting!
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| The Viking ship displayed in all it's glory behind my desk. |
