Ten years ago Honor Books published the first Apples & Chalkdust: Inspirational Stories & Encouragement for Teachers. Together we reached more than 650,000 teachers with the gift of encouragement. I was humbled beyond measure at that time. Teachers who would have otherwise quit their jobs wrote me in droves to say that they would "give it one more year" because of this book.
Ten years later, another publisher, Howard Books, a division of Simon & Schuster, worked with me to lovingly package a 10th Anniversary Edition of Apples & Chalkdust that is revised and updated with 180 stories to encourage teachers (the original had 100). That honors teachers everywhere because Howard Books and I both know that there are many more teachers out there now than even ten years ago who feel discouraged and are on the verge of leaving.
Today they did something to honor me and I am humbled - to tears.
This large, beautiful plaque showed up on my doorstep yesterday with a personal letter that showed me that I made the right choice to partner with Howard Books.
They "get it".
And that's a rare thing.
We're coming to that time of the year when teachers all over the world will "go back to school" in preparation of the first day of school for our children. Can you find a way this year to tell them that you "get it" too?