You Matter. Every. Single. Day.

As an educator, you matter.

How you engage with your students, your colleagues and your families, it all matters.

While I have always been intentional in how I interact with others, I have been intentionally, and quietly, observing what those around me are doing in the days, weeks and months to start this school year.

While we have been saying for years that the power of relationships with our students (and families and colleagues) is at the core of our work as educators, taking it a step further and showing the depth of those relationships and exploring the mindset of how we make others feel and how they come and go each day, is what truly matters.

Creating a sense of community, matters.

Listening and supporting our students that experience known (and yet to be known trauma), matters.

Being willing to step up and step in to teach and learn with our colleagues, matters.

Leading with empathy, matters.

Growing alongside of your students, matters.

Being able to recognize and respond to our strengths, and our weakness, matters.

As an educator, every interaction of every day, matters. And, while we can't always be our best self of every minute of every day, knowing that we are impacting the lives of those we do interact with and how we respond to them, is what matters.

As you head home tonight after another long day of dedication to your students and your community, know that what you gave of yourself today, mattered. And, what you provide your community of learners tomorrow will matter just as much as the day before.