From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis
Subscribe to the 10 Minute Teacher Podcast and Cool Cat Teacher Talk anywhere you listen to podcasts.
This show is encouraging and hard at the same time. Debbie Simões survived South Phoenix shootouts, five-year-olds cursing her, and an assault that left her with a bruised liver, kidney, and separated shoulder. She still chooses to see the value in every child and to advise a way forward. Our value as teachers and students is not in whether we get everything right, but in just who we are. Each of us is valuable. Each of us needs hope. And we can be hope agents for each other! Her mantra is, “We are people of value who value people and add value to them.”
If you think your situation is too hard and nobody understands, Debbie does. Yet she is advising us on a way forward. One anchored in the truth of how hard and heartbreaking education can be in the hardest schools.
Now, we work hard to get the shows down to 10 minutes but on this one, my son John, who edits, came to me and said, “Mom, this is too important and I feel like she has lived this.” She’s perfect for a Motivational Monday. I challenge all of us to be a hope agent today for someone. Do something small. Be an encourager. Text someone. Take someone to lunch. Debbie shares how.
“We are people of value who value people and add value to them.”
Debbie Simões
Founder, Best Questers · Co-author, High Five to Thrive
Listen to the Show
