Dear Teacher,
I know that you haven’t heard from me in quite some time. I am sorry for that. Know that I am still here and that you are still awesome! I haven’t given up on you and I haven’t given up on me. Time away was needed, but now I am back.
I know that it is summer (for my Northern Hemisphere teacher friends), but I also know that you are a great teacher. You are already thinking about next year. You have had a few weeks of a break and now you are thinking about the students that will be sitting in the desks that sit in your classroom. This is what makes you great.
You can’t stop your “teaching brain,” and this is a good thing.
The other night, I was playing Jenga with my son. We had some nice rounds of moving the blocks, but in the end the tower always tumbled.
When I looked at the pieces after one long match, it hit me that no matter how the game went it always ended but no matter how it ended we can always rebuild and start again.
Isn’t that the same with life?
No matter how things go, things always end. No matter how things end, we can always start again.
This applies even more so with teaching. Jenga is a pretty great analogy to our profession, if you think about it.
We start the year as a strong tower, ready to go. Through the year we go through times of being taken apart and put back together. In the end, no matter what, we feel like a puddle of bricks (in some way or another) ready for a reboot. We take the summer and rebuild so that we can start again.
Teacher, I don’t know how last year ended for you. I don’t know what kind of mess your bricks are in. I don’t know how worn your blocks are. But you can rebuild. You can start again. You will start again.
Take the rest of the summer and try to build your tower stronger. Relax. Reflect. Rebuild. Think about what went right and what went wrong. Look for what you could do better. Research a little. Read a lot. Find new ways to do the old stuff. Be a better tower…even if you know it will just be blocks and bricks at the end of the next year.
This is what you do. This is who you are. And you are AWESOME at it. Keep going and never give up!
Build, Teacher. Build.
Your are awesome! I totally believe in you! Have a great rest of the summer and build that tower better than ever! Keep on teaching, Teacher!
Love, Teacher
Dear Teacher/Love Teacher 
What a perfect analogy for teaching and for life in general.
Thank you. I gave my son a little lesson when it came to me when we were playing the game.