Many thanks to those who hosted and attended the Straight to the Top! Conference in Kingsport, Tennessee yesterday. While there, I met a congressman, someone from the Tennessee Board of Regents and a national director from the U.S. Department of Education, yet I was most honored to meet the teachers who have dirt underneath their fingernails from digging for joy in our schools every day. They know as well as I do that there is much joy and laughter to be found! I could tell by their smiling faces, I was preachin’ to the choir. I have always loved Tennessee, and this trip reminded me why. The scenery is beautiful, but the people are more so.
By the way, I have never seen a more put-together and professionally dressed group of teachers at a conference. When east Tennessee teachers say they want to bring back a great measure of respect to the profession, they put their wardrobe where their mouth is!
(Special thanks to Susan, with whom I only spoke for two minutes, but whose encouraging words will stay in my heart a long time.)