What an Honor
I've had a big week. A while back I was nominated by our school for Head Start's Teacher of the Year. At the time I thought, yeah right. I'll fill out the papers if it makes them happy. There wasn't too much to the application process answer a few essay questions and three letters of reference.
Sometimes the little things that don't take you very long and aren't really all that time consuming, can really mean a lot to other people. Maybe all you do is make them smile, but it is well worth it. So, that's what I thought I was doing.
This was a competition between all the Alabama Head Start nominees, and I really wasn't sure how many nominees each school could nominate. So on Tuesday, our receptionist came to my classroom to tell me our director needed to see me. She stayed in the room long enough for me to answer the summons. The whole walk all I could think was what have I done now. Whatever it is, I sure don't remember doing anything worth getting in trouble during the middle of the day with children.
Imagine my shock when our director said, "Congratulations, Ms. Sorrell, you have won the honor of teacher of the year."
"Really?" was the only immediate response I could think of, and even after that all I could say for a minute or two was wow.
It didn't seem real at first. It wasn't until the next day when our director posted it on the school's Facebook page and people randomly started congratulating me that it finally sunk in. With each additional time I was congratulated, it sunk in a little more. Then at church that night, someone asked me how many times I had applied before I won. Wow.
The truth was this was the first time I had been nominated and applied for the honor. It had finally sunk in that I was Alabama Head Start Association's teacher of the year, but now it was sinking in exactly how huge that honor is. Again, all I really know to say is . . . wow.
As I've shared in earlier blogs, we had several hurtles to cross getting plans together for the next book release. If everything on that front had gone smoothly we would be releasing the next two Christmas books on the very same day that our group is leaving for the conference where Alabama Head Start Association teacher of the year will be awarded. Instead the release will be three weeks later, and I had no scheduling difficulties getting to the conference and the award banquet.
Again, what else can I say but wow. God is in control, y'all.
