The power of Praise

I taught a retread of a Creation stewardship class yesterday at my church for adults. The session went well, I thought. But the best part came at the end when three or four students complimented me on my teaching. Funny thing is, as a professional teacher I NEVER hear that. Sure, one could argue that some of my students (the ones that fail especially) would never say that, and I can accept that. What isn't acceptable is the lack of appreciation from students (it doesn't have to be every week, mind you) and especially from the administration. We get little generalized bits like "Oh, what you do is so important and we thank you so much," but how can I accept that as sincere when the administration has no idea what I'm doing in my classroom--except when there's a complaint, of course.
Sigh, anybody have a job opening that replaces gratitude with monetary renumeration?

Addendum: I should point out that over the years some of my students (teens) have been grateful for the little bit that I offered them. The trouble is they have only been at most 4% of my students. That is probably the way it is with most careers, but still. . . as a teacher, it's good to hear "Thank you for teaching me."

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