Bieber Who? Heroes Are In The Halls

When I saw some tweens throwing love notes over Justin Bieber's secure fence wishing him well in his recovery from bad press (forget his necessary recovery from alcohol and just general bad decision making), I had this weird sensation of anger.

Really? Love notes? For him?

Truth be told, those couple of girls--and tweens/teens/children of all ages--just don't have to look that far to find heroes. They need only look down their school hallways.

In my blog, I tend to focus on the work my students and I are doing in my classroom, but I'm lucky the lucky one because heroes are working all around me. Here are just some of the highlights:

• My direct colleagues in the English department push for more and more individual reading while working to balance informational texts
• Other teachers work hard to find innovative ways to deliver material and engage students by using technology, personal experiences, physical lessons, and so much more
• The office staff is warm in their greeting and is able to communicate well with all people--teens, parents, grandparents, teachers, administrators, and more
• Our administrators look for programs that will challenge our students and push our teachers
• Our kitchen staff provides us nourishment--and plenty of smiles
• Our support staff does incredibly important work with individual students showing both passion and compassion
• Coaches and directors of every kind provide experiences that allow family to form within social groups

There is no doubt, in these bullet points, that I've missed an aspect of the school life, but the idea is that heroes are everywhere in our lives. If you don't want to look at your schools, fine. Look at your churches, at your local government/public services, at your local businesses, at the stay-at-home parent next door.

As my oldest daughters, currently in 4th grade, prepare to move schools--from their elementary to an intermediate and then junior high--it is my responsibility to remind them of the reality of heroism.

And if they're going to write love letters to their heroes, I'm just hoping they can hand deliver them.