Rex Tietje

Proverbs 3:5

[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 The job I once knew has been replaced by exhaustion, red tape, and a kind of loneliness I can’t quite describe.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.

[Gavin Spoor @gavin_spoor]

I spent over an hour last night combing through the latest edition of Beck’s Practical Farm Research book.

Here’s a few studies that I found the most interesting ⤵️⤵️

[Rex Tietje @TietjeRex]

@WTOL11Toledo county line straight east of Leipsic looking west

[Rex Tietje @TietjeRex]

@Noggle_Farms @gavin_spoor How do you like the blower system for corn?

[Rex Tietje @TietjeRex]

370 Steiger HD for sale. 2625 hours. 3pt and PTO. Luxury cab. Available now

[Rex Tietje @TietjeRex]

370 Steiger HD for sale. 2625 hours. 3pt and PTO. Luxury cab. Available now

[OSUengineering @OSUengineering]

What better way for #Buckeyes from @OhioStateFABE to demonstrate the precision of their #GPS guided smart planting technology than by setting a #WorldRecord so big that it's only visible from above? #ScriptOhio
https://t.co/zELuRISHRs

[Adams Polishes @AdamsPolishes]

Thinking we should host an epic giveaway here soon. 30 retweets on this post and we will make something happen. Let’s rally! #AdamsPolishes

[Rex Tietje @TietjeRex]

@SchroederRoss25 @AgDayTV @JohnDeere Must be a big hopper on that combine to fit the whole sun in there

[Rex Tietje @TietjeRex]

@SchroederRoss25 @OhioFarmBureau @TyHigginsAg @KoltBuchenroth Looks like you’re in the right color tractor Ross

[Matthew Darr @DrMattDarr]

If you care about #harvest2020 yield data quality, look at the picture below. Yield monitors perform consistently when corn moisture is below ~20%. If you are above 20% you need to calibrate every 2.5% change in moisture to keep your yield error under 5%. #ISUCrops

[We Are Beck's @WeAreBecks]

Becknology Days 2020!! Let’s do this! 🌽🥰🌽

[Rex Tietje @TietjeRex]

Beck’s 3082FP soybeans showing good response to foliar and fungicide. Trivapro @ 13.7oz/ac and Andersons’ Next Level II @ 3qt/ac applied at R3 growth stage. Soybeans planted at 130k on May 9th. @BecksHybrids @BecksAgOH

[John Fulton @fultojp]

Pleasure to have Tim Norris from @Smarter_Ag and @RavenIndustries speaking to our @OhioStateFABE #precisionag class on automation in #ag. #agtech

[Ohio State ASM Club @OhioStateASM]

A big thanks to Paul Compton and @BecksHybrids for a fantastic tour of the headquarters in Atlanta, IN! Members of OSU’s ASM Club, Agribusiness Club, Crops and Soils Club, and Ag Ed Society had a great time and learned a lot!

[John Fulton @fultojp]

Out scouting one of our #corn studies in central #ohio looking @ row spacing by population by hybrid. Look forward to #harvest19 of this study. #efields #cfaes #precisionag #LeanOnYourLandGrant

[Rex Tietje @TietjeRex]

Thanks @LukeBryanOnline for sponsoring scholarships through @CFAES_OSU and supporting my future in agriculture! It was a great concert, a pleasure to meet you, and being in a field made everything way more fun! @coleswindell #herestothefarmer #farmtour2019

[Blake Willeke @BirdWilleke33]

2014 Case IH 1255 planter for sale...retweets are appreciated!! Thanks

[Rex Tietje @TietjeRex]

It has been quite the year for battling weather. Everything on the machinery can be set perfect but at the end of the day the weather has to be right too. https://t.co/euoVQJO7tD