Bruce Winther

[Bruce Winther @BruceWinther]

19

[Taya Bass @travelingflying]

I got only 1 point. You?

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 The job I once knew has been replaced by exhaustion, red tape, and a kind of loneliness I can’t quite describe.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

[Bruce Winther @BruceWinther]

Why even up when the frees are correct

[Grant Thomas @Thomo_Grant]

Umpires don’t like stats sheets to determine best player Brownlow medal but love them at half time to see if they need to even up the free kick count. 🤣

[Bruce Winther @BruceWinther]

@jamesmassola Cotton on, mate

[Bruce Winther @BruceWinther]

@dom383726 And now a second place award is being suggested.. WTF

[Daniel Arnold @BluCrommer]

Tears in my eyes. Will be a very difficult time when he retires. That Showdown goal selling candy to Aliir is my favourite goal of all time

[Bruce Winther @BruceWinther]

@lightsupleclerc You wish 😂

[sarah 🤎💛 @lightsupleclerc]

hope they go out in straight sets!

[Bruce Winther @BruceWinther]

How does a broadcaster get privileged information… especially an ex Collingwood President

[Footy on Nine @FootyonNine]

"Tonight I can tell you Izak Rankine's season is OVER." ⚠️

Eddie McGuire tells Footy Classified the Crows star is set to be suspended for five matches – ending his hopes of playing in finals.

#9FootyClassified | Watch on Nine & 9Now 🖥️

[Bruce Winther @BruceWinther]

Typical Vic comment

[Grant Thomas @Thomo_Grant]

We’ve seen some beauties over the journey but none better than that…..quite possibly one of the worst umpiring for the year.

[Bruce Winther @BruceWinther]

@MoArsenal86 Let’s wait till the window closes in 5 weeks

[Mo @MoArsenal86]

Gyokeres and Zubimendi saved the window for me.

Two players that will be absolutely incredible for us.

Very disappointed with our approach to upgrading the LW position but hey, it’s Arsenal, we ALWAYS leave ourselves short.

Good thing we have an elite manager.

We go again.

[Bruce Winther @BruceWinther]

@Chrisburdon17 @BradKlibansky 22-6 to Hawks in second half

[Bruce Winther @BruceWinther]

@FrankTomaras @BradKlibansky 29-21… pretty fair 😂

[Bruce Winther @BruceWinther]

@kmansell33 @Mikey_Nicholson You weren’t watching the same game

[Bruce Winther @BruceWinther]

@utopia00003 @Mikey_Nicholson Where you even watching the game.. similar thing happened when a Crows player did similar.. 50 meters and goal to Hawks

[Bruce Winther @BruceWinther]

@VardyMagic @Adelaide_FC Remember it well… amazing effort in terrible conditions

[Bruce Winther @BruceWinther]

Now , he is a political expert too 😳

[Mitch Cleary @cleary_mitch]

Damien Hardwick has gone again on Jacinta Allan's Balta take: "All I wanted to be is really hard on crime. And that's exactly what I want our Premiers & political parties to do. Magistrates, Premiers... less talking, less chest beating, more getting to work and getting it done."

[Bruce Winther @BruceWinther]

But you wouldn’t

[Kane Cornes @kanecornes]

Pretty good but you’d also kick four on Toby Pink

[Bruce Winther @BruceWinther]

Mump

[Art Candee 🍿🥤 @ArtCandee]

Can we start calling Elon Musk and Donald Trump a Hollywood couple nickname like Brangelina, Bennifer, and Kimye?

Especially since everyone who gets one seems to split up.

I vote for for "Elonald" since we all know Elon is the headliner in the relationship.