The bulk of my career was spent teaching 6th grade at a large Christian school in Northern Kentucky and for most of those years, my wife was a 5th grade teacher there as well. There were literally hundreds of kids who got a "double dose of Dunlap," for better or for worse. One of those kids was a girl name Lauren, who is now all grown up and an artist in Columbus, OH.
We decided to commission Lauren to paint something amazing for our living room. She agreed and we exchanged important information for her to create the perfect piece. We visited Lauren at her studio this weekend and picked up the painting. It's AMAZING! (I just now noticed the cat looking at us like we are crazy.)
At this point, this is a story of a couple who are both teachers and have been married a long time... and you wonder why it's on a teacher blog. I get it. But the rest of this is an example of the role we play as teachers.
Lauren made a video of the process and posted it on her TikTok, but she also shared personal thoughts in the video too. You just need to watch it.
As she talked to us in person and spoke to us through the video, it hit me big time. As teachers we spend so much time thinking about our content. Back then, it was multiplying decimals and labelling nouns. Now, it's video edits and the basics of engineering. Those things are so important, but sometimes I forget that teaching is about pouring myself into those kids. It's about letting them see me interact with people and the world around me to learn how to do it themselves. And, yes, I know the Dunlaps are a rare exception, but for us, it's a chance to show what marriage is all about too. As teachers, our pride should be in seeing our students become mature adults, ready to tackle whatever role is waiting for them in the world.
I will always cherish that massive canvas on our wall, but I hope I never lose sight of the hidden message it holds. Teaching is so much more than anything I envisioned it to be when I got into this job 28 years ago.
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