The Difference Between Ordinary and Extraordinary is that Little Extra: The Letter Board

This school year, I added a new item to my classroom, the ever-popular and current trend– the “letter board.” If you’re new here, I am a high school math teacher. This is my fifth year teaching full-time at the district from which I graduated, my seventh year as an educator. The very first day of school (not pictured), my students walked in to find the letter board on the corner of my desk stating, “180 new days, 180 new chances.” As the first week of school continued, each day a new quote could be found on the letter board. I noticed my students stopping to read it before walking to their seats. A few of them asked me, “Is there going to be a new quote each day?” “Maybe,” I would reply, “I’ll try to change it at least a few times a week.” 

Well, so far, I’ve added a new quote to the board each night before I head out. Yes, the bell signaling the end of the day might ring at 2:30, but I’m never out until 3:00, at the earliest, anyway. So, I take a few minutes (or 10) to find a perfect quote and the right letters and sit down to put them in the necessary sequence on that little board. I began posting a photo of the Classroom Quote of the Day to my various social media accounts and as the days went on, I began to receive countless messages. I got messages from former students, friends I haven’t spoken to in years, people I maybe met once, and family members from afar. Each message had a similar theme. The person thanked me for posting my daily quote and explained how it was affecting his or her life in some special way. One of my favorite messages was from a former high school student of mine, now about to finish nursing school. She said my quotes were helping her make it through the semester. Another was from a friend who works at Disney. He was posting the quote I wrote each day in his office and tons of people stopped by each day, counting on reading it. Others told me they write them on a Post-It note each day and place it on their desks or inside their planners to refer to throughout the day.

 

Phew. These little quotes written on a simple letter board from Amazon are getting some major mileage. They are making their way across the country to the west coast. And I love it. I love that I can help spread a little positivity to people’s lives, even ones I don’t know, by staying a bit longer to add a new quote at the end of each school day. Knowing the impact I am making by giving up a few minutes to string together some letters for a new quote each day is worth it. I don’t always have a few extra minutes, but now I know they’re counting on me. So yes. Yes, there will be a new quote each day. More important than any other reason, my students are reading them. They’re expecting a new quote when they walk through that classroom door each day. They may not tell me they love them or appreciate them like many of you have been doing, but I know that they’re reading them. It is my hope that just one of these quotes will inspire one of these young people to be confident and believe in themselves in some way. If I’m simply just teaching them math, then I’m missing the point. 

 

xo,
Ashley