It was a quick and not too quiet march down the hallway at Samuel Ogle Middle School in Bowie, Maryland, where the dean of the University of Maryland鈥檚 College of Education was joined by faculty and others from the university for a surprise teacher appreciation week visit to one of their own.
Pedro Gonzalez, a Spanish teacher at Ogle, didn鈥檛 see it coming. As someone played the school鈥檚 victory song to disrupt his class, Gonzalez started to tear up as Dean Kimberly Griffin sang his praises.
鈥淲e were told about all the wonderful things you do and all of the ways you show up for these kids,鈥� she said. They were there to 鈥渟ay thank you for all the work that you do.鈥�
The thanks came in the form of a gift basket with Maryland-related gear and apparel, much of it from businesses owned by other Maryland alums. Then she started acknowledging the amount of money teachers spend out of their own pockets to help educate their kids.
鈥淪o we鈥檙e hoping to put a little something in your pocket,鈥� she said.
When he saw the check for $1,000, he said, 鈥淚 feel like I should be giving this back to you, y鈥檃ll are going to be asking for it anyway,鈥� as the room broke out into laughter.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 know what I did to deserve this,鈥� he said. 鈥淭his is something I鈥檝e been doing for so long. I don鈥檛 feel deserving of it. I feel like a regular teacher. I feel like I come in and do my job every day and I love it.鈥�
When he was told that other alums from the College of Education suggested Gonzalez as a worthy recipient, he said it was 鈥渨ild,鈥� before suggesting other teachers more deserving.
鈥淚 can think about plenty of teachers that are probably more deserving of this,鈥� he said.
鈥淓verybody鈥檚 got a favorite teacher,鈥� Griffin said. 鈥淓verybody can really think about the impact teachers have on our lives, but so often we don鈥檛 say ‘thank you,’ and it鈥檚 teacher appreciation week and so we wanted to say 鈥榯hank you鈥� in a really big way.鈥�
His students benefited, too, after surprising him with posters expressing their appreciation.
鈥淚 do have extra credit points that I give them and they鈥檒l definitely get some. All right, all of y鈥檃ll go get some ‘G-bucks!’鈥� he yelled out. 鈥淭hey get extra credit points when they do good things in the class and so they鈥檝e earned that today.鈥�
Gonzalez was the third teacher honored Wednesday by UMD. The school also brought similar surprise gift packages to Jeimy Amaya, from International High School in Langley Park, and Alexis Cutler, who teaches at Tyler Heights Elementary in Annapolis.
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