Michelle Watt#connectionbeforecurriculum

I am Métis. Gr 8 Humanities, Passionate Relationship Builder, aspiring athlete trapped in a Mom Bod, #8WCCHS 🏳️‍🌈 Either reading a book or riding my bike

[Travis Akers 🇺🇸 @travisakers]

A message from a Kindergarten teacher:

After forty years in the classroom, my career ended with one small sentence from a six-year-old:

“My dad says people like you don’t matter anymore.”

No sneer. No malice. Just quiet honesty — the kind that cuts deeper because it’s innocent. He blinked, then added, “You don’t even have a TikTok.”

My name is Mrs. Clara Holt, and for four decades, I taught kindergarten in a small Denver suburb. Today, I stacked the last box on my desk and locked the door behind me.

When I started teaching in the early 1980s, it felt like a promise — a shared belief that what we did mattered. We weren’t rich, but we were valued. Parents brought warm cookies to parent nights. Kids gave you handmade cards with hearts that didn’t quite line up. Watching a child sound out their first sentence felt like magic.

But that world slowly slipped away. The job I once knew has been replaced by exhaustion, red tape, and a kind of loneliness I can’t quite describe.

My evenings used to be filled with construction paper, glitter, and glue sticks. Now they’re spent filling out digital reports to protect myself from angry emails or lawsuits. I’ve been yelled at by parents in front of twenty-five children — one filming me with his phone while I tried to calm another child mid-meltdown.

And the kids… they’ve changed too. Not by choice.

They arrive tired, anxious, overstimulated. Their tiny fingers know how to swipe a screen before they can hold a crayon. Some can’t make eye contact or wait in line. We’re expected to fix all of it — to patch the gaps, heal the trauma, teach the curriculum, and document every move — in six hours a day, with resources that barely fill a drawer.

The little reading corner I once built, full of soft beanbags and paper stars, was replaced by data charts and “learning metrics.” A young principal once told me, “Clara, maybe you’re too nurturing. The district wants measurable results.”

As if kindness were a weakness.

Still, I stayed. Because of the small, holy moments that no spreadsheet could measure —
a whisper of, “You remind me of my grandma.”
a shaky note that read, “I feel safe here.”
a quiet boy finally meeting my eyes and saying, “I read the whole page.”

Those tiny sparks were my reason to keep showing up.

But this last year broke something in me.

The aggression grew sharper. The laughter in the staff room turned to silence. The light went out of so many eyes. I watched brilliant teachers — my friends — vanish under the weight of burnout, their joy replaced by survival.

I felt myself fading too, like chalk on a board that’s been wiped one too many times.

So today, I began my goodbye. I pulled faded art off the walls and tucked thirty years of handmade cards into a single box. In the back of a drawer, I found a letter from a student from 1998:

“Thank you for loving me when I was hard to love.”

I sat on the floor and cried.

No party. No applause. Just a handshake from a young principal who called me “Ma’am” while checking his notifications.

I left my rocking chair behind, and my sticker box too. What I carried with me were the memories — the faces of hundreds of children who once trusted me enough to reach out their hands and learn. That can’t be uploaded. It can’t be measured. It can’t be replaced.

I miss when teachers were partners, not targets. When parents and educators worked side by side, not in opposition. When schools cared more about wonder than numbers.

So if you know a teacher — any teacher — thank them. Not with a mug or a gift card, but with your words. With your respect. With your understanding that behind every test score is a heart that cared enough to try.

Because in a world that often overlooks them, teachers are the ones who never forget our children.

[Michelle Watt#connectionbeforecurriculum @Teachawatt]

Love this series

[James Ponti @JamesPonti]

What better way to kickoff the Summer of Sherlock than with a giveaway. Share this and you're entered for a chance to win a signed copy of The Sherlock Society and an all-new sticker set. Find more summer sleuthing fun at https://t.co/4LClvQFzGf.

[Eric Walters @EricRWalters]

When grocery stores start putting Canadian flags on their products isn't it time for publishers to put a Canadian flag or a little maple leaf on the spines of Canadian books? @ireadcanadian @ONLibraryAssoc @ForestofReading @CdnSchoolLibrar

[Michelle Watt#connectionbeforecurriculum @Teachawatt]

@cbcsports please do better. Trying to enjoy #HockeyDay and your reporter just said “IRL” instead of “in real life.” Time and place, boys, time and place. #whenyouknowbetterdobetter

[Michelle Watt#connectionbeforecurriculum @Teachawatt]

You can put it in the win column!

[CareForEd. @CareForEd1]

I don’t know a single teacher in Alberta who cares much about a new school being built in 7 years when their current reality is a class of 30+ students who have very diverse needs, with zero additional support. There is a crisis in education TODAY that is NOT being addressed.

[Michelle Watt#connectionbeforecurriculum @Teachawatt]

Starting year 11, 3rd year in Grade 8. Still can’t believe they pay me to do this 🥰 #WCCHS #bleedblueandgold

[Michelle Watt#connectionbeforecurriculum @Teachawatt]

On holiday in the Uk - discovered these. Wow!

[Michelle Watt#connectionbeforecurriculum @Teachawatt]

Poverty is not a new concept, neither is mental health concerns, homelessness nor abuse. So why do our children seem less equipped to manage and how do we help them?

[Michelle Watt#connectionbeforecurriculum @Teachawatt]

This weekend’s read. Great series for my 8s. They like fantasy and this has the advantage of being on Netflix. I have had Ss for whom reading is a challenge say they like to watch the movie first bc then they have the pictures in their head when they read. @Netflix_CA

[Michelle Watt#connectionbeforecurriculum @Teachawatt]

First nice day of spring - of course we read outside 🌞⁦@WCCHS⁩ ⁦@LRSD_68⁩

[Michelle Watt#connectionbeforecurriculum @Teachawatt]

@mrbgilson Oh my gosh…I thought it was just me 🥴

[Michelle Watt#connectionbeforecurriculum @Teachawatt]

When will I stop letting tiny moments that go wrong in my class dominate my thoughts? How do I keep one angry parent (who only has half of the information) take up all my headspace? Why do I overthink the negative?

[Michelle Watt#connectionbeforecurriculum @Teachawatt]

@mrbgilson But you passed. Nobody looks at actual grades at the end of the day. Just that piece of paper on the wall. I’m assuming you are close. You can do this. We are made to do hard things. What would you tell yourself if you were one of your struggling students?

[Michelle Watt#connectionbeforecurriculum @Teachawatt]

@NicholasFerroni Me too, Man, me too. I am funny. My students have no idea, but I am funny😉

[Michelle Watt#connectionbeforecurriculum @Teachawatt]

Bunch of Munsch! @WCCHS & @WestMeadow_LRSD partnered for cookies and reading this morning @LRSD_68 Smiles all around!

[Michelle Watt#connectionbeforecurriculum @Teachawatt]

Such
A great book! Highly recommend.

[🦊 Kevin Sands 🦊 @kevinsandsbooks]

THE RAVEN’S REVENGE is now available in paperback!

[Michelle Watt#connectionbeforecurriculum @Teachawatt]

And sadly not just an American thing. @JustinTrudeau should be embarrassed by the state of the water on our reservations.

[Mari Copeny @LittleMissFlint]

Please. I’m trying to get the country to see that the water crisis isn’t just a Flint thing, I’m in this for every single person in the US that has toxic water. Flint is just one city out of hundreds. I’ve been screaming America has a water crisis for almost 5 years.

[Michelle Watt#connectionbeforecurriculum @Teachawatt]

@farley_har25324 @mrbgilson I am trying to figure out if students should be using it. 🤦🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️. This type of technology is evolving so quickly. I did’t even have this problem last year😏

[Michelle Watt#connectionbeforecurriculum @Teachawatt]

Can someone explain the website “emotes” to me - is it like Spark notes? Should my Ss be using to for their research? Thanks @mrbgilson have you seen this website?