b"final mattersThanking yourGreat PeopleIts not too late to acknowledge the teachers of your pastBY LINDA BECKwatch every one of MY episodes, evenpectedpandemic.Creatingengaging when they looked a whole lot like Thorcurriculaisdifficultwork,andthen II. Theyre the teacherswhether cre- having to condense and digitize lessons dentialed or not. is a Herculean task. And as the role of This coincided with the retirementrememberingtheseeminglyendless ofmyfavoritehighschoolteacher,log-insforthedifferentvirtualclass-after 42 years of teaching drama, androoms and tracking our kids work fell the recipient of a Teacher-of-the-Yearon us, we parents got a glimpse of the nominationandanexclusiveinvita- kinds of students our kids arewhat tiontotheObama WhiteHousetothe teachers have been telling us in our perform with the original cast of Ham- parent-teacher conferences. Perhaps we ilton. As I texted back and forth witheven saw our past selves in inherited him in the days leading up to his finalhabits, strengths, and weaknesses. dismissal bell, he confessed that whatAt the start of the year, our great pushed him to retire this year, ratherSouthMountainElementarySchool thannextortheoneafter,wastheclass parents budgeted for end of the thought of having to teach a new classyear thank-you gifts for our teachers, through a screen.never anticipating what was to come Teaching is about relationships andthatwewouldntevenfinishout rapport. How is trust established whenthe year together. We didn't recognize L ast summer, my family endeavored to watch every Avengers mov- every student is the star of his or herteachers in this way when I was a kid. own reality show; their bedrooms andBut its not too late, even all these years their questions on display for everyonelater, to say thanks.ie in order, choosing not even to skip Thor II, which if you haventto seeand to judge? What happensHow about crisping that old statio-seen it, is really, really bad. This year, we have opted for anotherto the shy kids, who are petrified bynery or breaking your Facebook fast to historyjourney,notthroughMarvellore,butthroughworldthecameraandwouldbenefitmorefind your Great Peoplethe people history. With me as Gorgo of Sparta, my husband as Pericles ofthan ever from those in-person, one- whodidntgiveuponyou,orwho Greece, and my two sons as Tomyris, Queen of Scythia, and Jad- on-one, teacher-student exchanges? pushed you in just the right wayand wiga, the female King (!) of Poland, we have immersed ourselvesIts been a long haul for everyone.dropping them a line. It doesnt have to into the intricacies of the video game Civ VI.Repurposingthediningroomasanbeanythingparticularlydeeporpro-Aside from the delicious buffet of culture, government, religion, and war,at-home classroom, and the bedroomfound. You wont be graded. Just send the goal is to win and one of the domination strategies is to patronize Greatas a home office, have been less-than- a note to let them know that now that Peopleartists, musicians, writers, admirals, prophets, etc. A little icon popsideal renovations to our personal sanc- youve been a teacher too, in your home up and clicking on it reveals who youve managed to attract to your civilization.tuaries. Its no longer possible to leaveand to your own kids, you appreciate Will it be Beethoven? Ana Nzinga? Mary Leakey? Its an exciting moment in thework at work and school at school.the hard work they didand to reas-fierce family competition. Whether we work in education orsure them that it was not for nothing Its got me thinking about the Great People of my past and not just thenot, we have all witnessed our school that you were worth the trouble. ones from the history books. For me, the greatest are those who endeavored tosystemunderthestressofanunex- Linda Beck is the Queen of Sparta.42/ matters magazine / school 2020"