Great Schools Partnership

It is our last Teacher Appreciation post!

This week has flown by! Thank you to all the GSP team members who shared their stories. We could have posted 100 thank yous, and that still wouldn’t cover how much we LOVE teachers. Without them, our work wouldn’t be possible. Happy Teacher Appreciation Week!

Ms. Diakite was my middle school advisor and, if memory serves, my social studies teacher as well. There is a moment from her class that remains vivid in my mind. We were reading about enslaved people, and the textbook offered only a brief, surface-level acknowledgment of their lives and experiences. I remember questioning why that was all there was to say. Ms. Diakite didn’t need to respond with words as her expression alone told me she understood exactly what I was feeling. In that moment, I felt seen. I felt protected. I felt affirmed. That experience taught me something enduring: representation in education is not symbolic—it is transformative. It creates space for truth. It creates space for inquiry. It creates space for students to trust their instincts and name what feels incomplete or unjust.

-Darthula Mathews
GSP Senior Associate

When I look back, the teacher I appreciate most is my elementary school librarian, Mrs. Raymond. I was never the perfect student. I squirmed, chatted, back-talked, and made many a mischief (I loved to hide a paperback in a textbook). None of this made me very popular with the teaching staff. While there was many a teacher who worked hard to “focus my potential,” only one made me feel accepted, and that one was Betsy Raymond. She showed me how a story can anchor a spinning mind, how to quell curiosity with research, and the meditative peace of shelving books. Her library was my calm in the storm, an oasis of incandescent light and soft places to land. I can never thank her enough for the well-being and belonging she brought to that whirlwind of a girl. Thank you, Mrs. Raymond!

-Kendra Carter
GSP Communications and Development Specialist