May your classroom be full, but not too full, of eager students.
May your students not be jaded.
May they have turned off their gadgets before they went to bed.
May they greet you when they encounter you.
May they look you in the eye but not get in your face.
May they bless, not curse you.
May they never say “whatever.”
May they get their work done—by themselves.
May the sparks that light up their studies be sparks of interest, not Spark Notes.
May their parents appreciate what you do for them and see you as an ally.
May your classroom be live and virtuous, not virtual.
May you be the master, not the slave, of your classroom’s gadgets.
May your school’s and classroom’s routines serve not thwart your needs and your students’.
May your classroom’s main source of light be sunshine.
May its main source of sound be live voices.
May your bag of tricks be bottomless.
May the only value-added in your life be the value added to your abundantly deserved retirement accounts.
May your administrators be educators not businessmen.
May they keep education from becoming preparation for standardized tests.
May they never think that education is a product.
May they share your horror of baloney and pink slime, whether in the cafeteria, the classroom, or the office.
May they back you up not cut you down.
May your school’s mission be expressible in under ten words, none of them a superlative.
May nothing in your building leak.
May your school’s IT network work.
May value-added metrics be subtracted from your life.
May Arne Duncan enjoy a contented and very long retirement from his job as Secretary of Education.
May he spend it studying the work of Professor Harry Frankfurt.
May the Race to the Top bottom out.
May No Child Left Behind be left behind.