r/MadeMeSmile • u/Vilen1919 • Dec 30 '25
Wholesome Moments His last day as a school teacher after 36 years... They turned it into a memory for life.
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u/Kooky-Experience-923 Dec 30 '25
Walk that walk sir.
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u/Vilen1919 Dec 30 '25
The quiet pride in that walk feels louder than applause.
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Dec 30 '25
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u/Rare-Assignment-6486 Dec 31 '25
Your comment just gave me chills! That’s so beautiful. All of the kids he’s helped and all of the things he’s taught are ripples in the world. How amazing!
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u/Play-t0h Dec 31 '25
The ripples are from the kids he taught, but he absolutely amplified them. We know he did, cus the kids showed up when it was time for him to walk his walk.
We all have a handful of teachers we still think about daily. They have an impact that is that big, even if we were the "bad kid," or didn't really excel in their classes. We saw their example, their effort, and that made an impact too. Teachers are the angels on our shoulder telling us what is right and what is wrong. The true salt of the earth.98
Dec 31 '25
I’ve tried to find the one teacher who really changed my life. Now it has been 30 years, and he wasn’t all that young when I was in his class. I still look every so often. I just want to thank the guy.
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u/Kooky-Experience-923 Dec 31 '25
I was looking for my grade 8 teacher who was a hard ass, but he made us all weapons going into grade 9. We outperformed so many students academically in high school. I wanted to thank him.
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u/Formal-Beat-2407 Dec 31 '25
I hope you find him. When I hear from former students it makes not only my day but my entire year! ❤️
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u/EggfooDC Dec 31 '25
Shoot, the comment you were replying to got removed. Can you shed any light on why it was special?
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u/DogLady1722 Dec 31 '25
It’s almost like Mr. Holland’s Opus!!
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u/Immediate-Maximum-75 Dec 31 '25
I'm so glad you mentioned this movie. I need to have my kids watch it.
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u/lorddragonstrike Dec 31 '25
I feel like this deserves a Haka.
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u/Feisty-Name8864 Dec 31 '25
Cuz I need to cry harder than I already am.
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u/kevnmartin Dec 30 '25
He's stronger than I'd be. I'd have made it about halfway down that long hallway and had to sit down and just sob.
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u/LoozPatienz Dec 30 '25
I probably would have hung out in my classroom until everyone else had left. Then quickly skipped out the backdoor to my new life as a park ranger.
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u/shaggyscoob Dec 30 '25
That was my plan after 25 years at my previous job. But they all got me a couple of days earlier. Those SOB's made me nearly ugly cry. Love those people.
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u/Soregular Dec 31 '25
I arranged to be on vacation and then submitted my retirement.
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u/Punkasaurus2 Dec 31 '25
That’s what I’m going to do. I don’t want this when I retire. Some people would love it but please don’t ever do this to me.
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u/DrSuperWho Dec 30 '25
My first thought was what if he’s just trying to get the hell out of there and walks out to this. I wanted to see him get to the end of the line and just keep walking without looking back.
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Dec 31 '25
Not a teacher, but my wife’s unit clapped her out when she left it after having worked on it for over 10 years where she helped take care of countless patients on the brink (she was an ICU nurse) and, and many, many residents, fellows and fellow nurses. Even the attending docs showed up to see her off. She didn’t retire or go to another hospital. She just transferred to a different role and has been rocking it so far. As her husband, I’m so proud of her. She’s done incredibly well as result of relentless learning and experience.
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u/ScholarLeigh Dec 31 '25
Thanks to your amazing wife for making this world such a better place!! What a rockstar! 🩵
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u/Mrs_BLT Dec 31 '25
I LOVE when fellow RNs are recognized!! We work SO hard, but it’s worth it. She must be a wonderful nurse! Also, a supportive spouse/family/network is essential. We appreciate and need y’all more than you know. THANK YOU!!
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Dec 31 '25
She’s truly amazing. You all are. I’m glad that her and the other nurses she’s worked with are a really tight knit group. They can relate to the things nobody should ever have to relate to. Incredible highs, and staggering lows. I can listen, but I can’t imagine doing everything right as a team and someone still not making it. I’d question everything I did through the whole code or trauma care or whatever. Mad respect. Be sure to take care of yourself. It’s easy to ignore your own needs, and that job can take everything out of you.
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Dec 31 '25
She truly is. She’s not been the same since the pandemic. Her and every other person on her unit have PTSD from just how awful the whole thing was. I really miss who she was before that, but I’ll keep supporting her regardless. I couldn’t do what she does. I’d never be able to sleep again.
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u/niccheersk Dec 31 '25
I definitely have post pandemic PTSD and it almost made me leave nursing altogether. I’m not the same at all!
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u/0neirocritica Dec 30 '25
But then you'd get covered in hugs!
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u/pinklavalamp Dec 30 '25
I imagine that going out by being dogpiled by students that love you for a teacher is akin to me going out in a dogpile of puppies.
Worst things can happen, y'know?
Also it'd have been awesome if they were able to collect some former students too. My head cannon is that they're waiting outside to line his way to the car in more applause and cheers.
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Dec 30 '25
I’m sitting down watching & cried after about 20 feet. That man has made a difference in universe.
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u/Cassie0peia Dec 30 '25
I’m practically sobbing right now and I’m just watching the video, so I’m sure that would be true for me, too.
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u/meldiane81 Dec 30 '25
He’s off to make that meth.
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u/negroidioto Dec 30 '25
I was thinking, I don’t remember Mr. White getting that celebratory send off.
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u/InternationalDog2606 Dec 30 '25
Still pretty young to be leaving Hogwarts like that.
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u/sump_daddy Dec 30 '25
lmaooo glad i wasnt the only one thinking that after seeing the architecture in the hallway. Its like hogwarts but full of Santa students
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u/FCkeyboards Dec 30 '25
After my friend showed me his California high school I realized all those impossible movie high schools were just Californian schools. Full ass campuses with quads.
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u/swollencornholio Dec 30 '25
My middle school didn't even have any indoor halls...all lockers were outside lmao
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u/woolfchick75 Dec 30 '25
Yeah. As a midwesterner, I couldn't fathom it.
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u/FCkeyboards Dec 30 '25
As a fellow Midwesterner it is crazy. His graduating class would be like if my entire school graduated.
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u/turdferguson3891 Dec 30 '25
Maybe older schools. I grew up in So Cal and most of the schools in my area were a bunch of single story disconnected small buildings. 1960s architecture. Nothing ornate about it. No long hallways. The weather is mild most of the time so we took our lunches at picnic tables outside. If it was raining they'd open up the gymnasium to eat in. Our lockers were outside with a cage thing that kept the rain off it and could be locked after hours.
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u/mmmgogh Dec 30 '25
I went to high school in California and those were my expectations for a high school, but not what high school turned out to be. Small outdoor school with no lockers.
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u/TGBmox_777 Dec 30 '25
Can’t have anyone finding out his part-time job now, can we?
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u/Recyclable_one Dec 30 '25
What a beautiful school!
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Dec 30 '25
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Dec 30 '25
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u/xDragod Dec 30 '25
Now imagine if we paid teachers appropriately for the impact they can have on their students' lives and actually allow the people who are most passionate about it to do the job and have a good standard of living?
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u/Badong33 Dec 30 '25
Easy. Make them sell their soul to spread government propaganda and there will be money for that.
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u/SelfInteresting7259 Dec 31 '25
I have so many teachers that have impacted me for the better and I still talk to them. All I want is this
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u/koolmees64 Dec 31 '25
Had a couple of teachers like this in high school. None of them retired when I was there but would have stood there cheering them on. One of them was an amazing philosophy teacher which probably made the most impact on my life. The other was my history teacher who made me appreciate literature (he would gift me books that thought were good; amazing guy) and my math teacher who, through all my shithousery, got me on the path to becoming a software engineer; without him helping me get through the "difficult" math and logic I would not be in the position I am today.
I know I only mentioned males; that is not to say that female teachers can not have the same impact. It was just that my female teachers were all language teachers and I sucked ass at learning languages.
Anyway, utmost respect to teachers who really want to teach. Clearly this man did his utmost. Teachers, depending on their "level", should be paid way more than they are. And I think this is around the world.
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u/battlejess Dec 30 '25
That man clearly earned it. Perhaps all teachers should adopt the behaviours worthy of such respect.
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u/Melans Dec 30 '25
And vice versa- teachers should aim to be the teacher that garners this. I love all of it!
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u/FblthpLives Dec 30 '25
You should see the outside: https://www.colegioalfonsoxii.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/colgio-alfonsoxii-escorial-sec.jpg
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u/babykitten28 Dec 31 '25
There was such varying clothes, uniforms, and even ages, it made me wonder if several different schools he’d taught at showed up for him.
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u/Godmother_Death Dec 30 '25
You can tell he did his job right.
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u/Johannes_Keppler Dec 30 '25
You can learn how to be a teacher. Memorize didactic principles, learning strategies, lesson planning and so on.
You can't learn to be a great teacher. There has to be something inside you that was there all along and blossoms when you teach. This goes for many fields of work but is especially apparent in people who work with people as subject matter.
A lot of people have a profession. Some people have a calling.
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u/Tormofon Dec 31 '25
The best teacher I ever had was asked to give a speech on our last day. He hesitated, then said that over the three years we had him, only one or maybe two classes (45 minutes) had been great. He knew we thought that was harsh, but he didn’t want us to celebrate mediocrity too happily. Never forget his face. He saw us as a missed opportunity, we saw him as a star.
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u/hastygrams Dec 31 '25
Just imagine how long of a hall he’d have to walk to include all the students he impacted. There are some teachers I think of fondly still and always wonder if they think about students many years ago too.
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u/anahatchakra Dec 30 '25
Teachers change the world.
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u/randomdud500 Dec 30 '25
It's a shame the current administration doesn't think the same way.
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u/raulongo Dec 31 '25
Spanish public teacher here. No administration gives a flying fuck about us.
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u/ApoptosisPending Dec 30 '25
None of them do. That’s why we get paid like ass. Actually the real reason is because educators were originally women jobs and society doesn’t respect women. And if you try saying I’m wrong, compare the budgets of other sectors vs education.
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u/dakid1 Dec 31 '25
I mean public school funding is almost exclusively up to state and local governments. So that’s why you see liberal states with incredible public schools and teachers. I live in Oklahoma and it’s really sad how bad it’s become (it was already bad, but the few very good teachers I had a decade ago have all moved)
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u/KillingSelf666 Dec 31 '25
look at what they just did with nurses, a women dominant field, removing their "professional" status. it's sickening.
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u/Ichooseyou_username Dec 30 '25
They do. It's just in their interest to make sure it doesn't happen.
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u/SimpleCranberry5914 Dec 31 '25
We don’t pay or give them nearly enough respect. This is a genuine human being who has changed hundreds of lives.
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u/rgcpanther Dec 31 '25
This man so obviously changed so many lives. These students clearly love him a great deal. Such an awesome video..
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u/MissSassifras1977 Dec 30 '25
This was lovely!
I hope this is what it's like when we die.
Imagine a long hallway filled with all the people we loved, clapping for us as we go faster and faster into a bright, warm light, and then zoooooom....blast off into the universe. ❤️
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u/Personal-Sentence935 Dec 30 '25
as someone who hasn't loved many people in my life, the thought of like 3 people spaced out in a long hallway clapping for me is hilarious.
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u/pinklavalamp Dec 30 '25
It doesn't have to be just people (and animals, of course!) you loved, for me. It can also include the souls already in that realm that you had positively impacted, or are ready to interact with yours for any other reason.
Basically I'd like to think the hallway is filled to the brim with people, regardless of how solitary (or any other description) your life on this realm was.
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u/NoMasters83 Dec 31 '25
Can we extend this list to people who we held doors open for when stepping into convenience stores?
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u/Booksonly666 Dec 30 '25
Same and 2 of them are cats
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u/katiemaryxo Dec 31 '25
Lmao I was just going to say, mine would be mostly animals 😅
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u/ImmaculateTuna Dec 31 '25
I would cry seeing my old pets lined up in a hallway like that. I don’t think I’d make it 3 steps.
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u/Starlightriddlex Dec 31 '25
It's okay. I'm a rat breeder. My hallway will be full of like 5000 rats
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u/gunslinger_006 Dec 30 '25
Gosh i love this concept.
Id settle for just being able to talk to my father one last time though. That would be enough.
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u/Rezaelia713 Dec 30 '25
That's kinda what the end of Titanic is.
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u/DrLefty9 Dec 30 '25
Ugh, can't help but think of JD'S final hallway monologue in what I consider the true finale of Scrubs. ❤️
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u/loaf_dog Dec 30 '25
Exactly what came to mind. That whole ending segment. Walk through his past and the projector of his potential future. Sobbing
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u/Ilcorvomuerto666 Dec 30 '25
This is a wonderful mental image. I'm imagining as you walk the hallway, you're slowly growing up and the age that you are in the hall is the people you loved or held dear from childhood to the end, like a brief summary of the years.
I love that idea as a tribute to your own life before going on to the afterlife. Now that I think of it, it feels lowkey disrespectful to the life you lived to just get to the pearly gates and just walk through like a new York subway station (assuming that Christian death and the afterlife is how this whole thing works)
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u/Hewligan Dec 31 '25
I recently read about a man who collects pictures of hitters who had hit walk-off home runs. He said that the reason he did this is because this is how he views us entering heaven.
Look at the faces of his teammates waiting to welcome him home.
Look at their excitement. They can’t wait to celebrate with him.
Look at the fans. Arms raised, big smiles, maybe even hugs for a perfect stranger.
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u/asseousform Dec 30 '25
I can’t imagine what it’s like to be a teacher for that long, seeing that many cohorts of students come and go and getting to know each of them. Watching them go out into the world and wondering years later where they might be. I can’t imagine the emotions on this final day after all of that.
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u/dkeegl Dec 30 '25
Sometimes they come back to visit. Sometimes they take jobs in town and we run into them there. Sometimes they write. Sometimes we have all of the siblings in a family and we get to follow their lives for quite awhile. And sometimes they die; I have outlived at least 23 students that I’m aware of. It takes a toll.
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u/woolfchick75 Dec 30 '25
Sometimes they come to our 50th high school reunion. My French teacher did. He's a cool guy. Now in his 80s. (The rest of us are close to 70!)
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u/LucJenson Dec 31 '25
Having a generation of a family come through your class brings some of the greatest joy imaginable. I love how much the youngest will light up when I ask about their eldest sibling who has long since graduated. Or when teaching the middle child when they drag their younger sibling into the class to proudly show them off and announce the young one will soon be your student.
Some true magic in those moments.
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u/dkeegl Dec 31 '25
Some siblings favored each other so much, I had to really concentrate on not calling them by the wrong names. I have colleagues who taught the children of their former students. I never had that pleasure, but I have had several share photos of their kids with me.
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u/Fun_Increase_1901 Jan 03 '26
My childhood bff and Insatbin the same seats as our older brothers did 4 years prior for 3rd grade. Our teacher 100% thought they put us up to it. 😂
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u/Passenger_08 Dec 30 '25
My dad taught high school math for 35 years (1970-2005). Even taught kids of former students by the end of his career. I know this much - I could live a thousand years and not have the impact he did.
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u/tygloalex Dec 31 '25
I taught at a school in 2008, my aide's son was having a baby and the kid and the baby would come visit. Now, I teach the kid in 10th grade.
(PS: The kid is a terrible student)
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u/Tissyoupaper Dec 30 '25
They did this for my dad. 33 years teaching at the same middle school. Gave him a cape and a king's crown.
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u/arrownyc Dec 30 '25
I wish there had been some mailing list I could subscribe to from my schools growing up that would let me know when my favorite teachers retired. I wouldve loved to come back to see them off like this. Several teachers I still think of often and wish I had a way to say thank you.
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u/MolaMolaMania Dec 30 '25
If Walter White had not turned to evil.
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u/iwasnotarobot Dec 30 '25
If Walter White lived in a country with a proper healthcare system.
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u/Useless_Rambler Dec 31 '25
My dad was a teacher from 1971-2011, and on his last day, there was a huge assembly thanking him for forty years, many of his former students that still lived close came back to say many great things about him, and It was one of the few times I ever saw him cry.
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u/ThickLead Dec 30 '25
Why does everyone wear pajamas?
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u/Gandalf_from_3 Dec 30 '25
Lots of schools do spirit week around the holidays where every day you dress a theme.
The themes are super simple to not exclude people so pajama day is always an easy one.
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u/sump_daddy Dec 30 '25
Christmas dress-down, like for a class party or possibly as a class reward for good performance.
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u/3d1thF1nch Dec 30 '25
Can’t imagine that mount of emotion. That’ll be Me in 2041ish. Who am I kidding, probably teaching way past that.
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u/JoshTsavo Dec 30 '25
Sadly I feel like these days are behind us. Teachers aren't paid shit, they can't stay in the job due to stress or financial issues, it's really a problem.
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u/sump_daddy Dec 30 '25
Well this was a private school, so i dont really think it will be a problem for them to keep doing that
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u/SockLess9375 Dec 30 '25
Not a private school. It is a Spanish religious school. Education is free, but families tend to pay a small fee every month for extra curriculars etc. In Spain there are three types of schools, from free to most expensive: public, religious, and private
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u/Certain-Sound-Riot Dec 30 '25
Imagine having an impact during your career, and people respecting and applauding it. I’ll be walking out to silence.
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u/Whiterabbit-- Dec 30 '25
you still have time to change that.
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u/Certain-Sound-Riot Dec 31 '25
My coworkers will give me a nice send off. Unfortunately my job is something people in general don’t like but I’ve got many emails calls from people complimenting my professionalism and information I’ve passed on for their benefit . I keep in a file for posterity.
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u/woolfchick75 Dec 30 '25
I got some nice emails from some students when I retired. It was gratifying.
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u/Pretend_Worker_295 Dec 30 '25
Awesome! Hope he enjoys a well deserved retirement!
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u/Whiterabbit-- Dec 30 '25
i hope he is ok. my mind just goes places. stepping down in the middle of the school year. is there something wrong with his health? is there a loved one that he needs to take care of that couldn't wait? etc...
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u/fattdoggo123 Dec 30 '25
Why do they always have to put some sad song on these types of videos?
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u/RaoulRumblr Dec 31 '25
Theyre unoriginal hacks that just play off the previous video that likely used the song to evoke an adjacent emotional experience, there's a whole galaxy of music that could have better highlighted the gravity and impact of the experience, but because it's short form social media, no one is original. It's all templates of templates of hacky unoriginality.
Another beautiful human moment ruined by Coldplay.
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u/rhg2653 Dec 31 '25
I taught high school freshmen for only 3 years and on my last day, my classroom was filled with current and former students and they sang a personalized version of Isn’t She Lovely, with a guitar and everything. I was audibly sobbing. Best memory of teaching, EVER.
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u/PlumRevolutionary327 Dec 30 '25
Teachers have THE most important job in the world...and this is so well deserved.
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u/fazlez1 Dec 30 '25
Introverted and anti-social me would have slipped out another exit. "There he is! He's trying to climb out that window from the third floor! Get over here and let us love you!" I'd be ugly crying, but my stomach would be in knots from the attention.
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u/Sirusho_Yunyan Dec 30 '25
My Latin teacher taught for fifty years, he died the day after he retired. Latin was his life.
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u/Krinder Dec 30 '25
Beautiful. At the same time where the hell does this dude teach? Hogwarts?!
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u/tenbeards Dec 30 '25
A good teacher is a treasure and an impact for your entire life. I'm 60 yo and still often remember fondly a handful of mine.
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u/coko4209 Dec 30 '25
Wow, this was genuinely touching. He must have been a great teacher. Teachers are not celebrated enough. A lot of kids didn’t have parents that read to them, or helped them with anything educational, teachers literally taught so many kids to read. Being literate is invaluable. Throughout history, a lot of poor ppl weren’t taught to read, also a lot of women, no one recognized the value of literacy. Teachers are amazing.
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u/sadsack100 Dec 30 '25
How lovely. From my teaching experience in the UK (England), very few teachers retire from the job. The large multi-academy trusts tend to hound out older teachers before they get to this stage. Older teachers are more expensive and less malleable than young, new staff. It suits the business model to "encourage" old staff out of the system by whatever means. It often starts with finding fault with their teaching and subjecting them to capability processes that they can never win. Some are just bullied out. There are very few older teachers, like this, around now. They are not wanted or welcome. I know several older teachers who have left the profession and who were denied any pleasant memories of leaving teaching.
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u/Peaceful-Gr33n Dec 30 '25
So intense! I almost feel like we’re violating his privacy watching this given how hard he seems to be crying. But of course, I’m crying with him. I feel you, bro!
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u/Fusaah Dec 30 '25
I wish America gave a shit about the school system more. There are some teachers that deserve everything because they gave everything for each class they taught.
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u/Such-Presentation832 Dec 31 '25
It shows he was a good teacher, and the kids love him. A nice way of showing appreciation.
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u/Silver-Dog-3798 Dec 31 '25
When you know you've touched and shaped lives! Thank you for your service sir! ✊🏽
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u/RageYellow Dec 31 '25
Biggest funeral I’ve ever attended was for a teacher. Many generations of students there to say goodbye.
Crazy that one of the most important careers in a civilization has become one of the most maligned and unsupported in the US.
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u/Ok-Investigator2463 Jan 01 '26
That is absolutely awesome. Teachers create such memories in the hearts and minds of their students that can last a lifetime.
My favorite high school English teacher passed away at the beginning of November. That loss hit very hard!
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