When I first came across pictures from the blog Hey Girl, all I did was giggle appreciatively. The site, managed ostensibly by a nameless student teacher, features alluring stock photos of celebrities (Ryan Gosling is a particular favorite) with homemade captions praising any aspect of the teaching profession you can think of. From IEPs to writing portfolios; intervention groups to late-night lesson-planning, the hard work of teachers is extolled by Hollywood's most beautiful. Most captions begin "Hey girl..." though there are plenty of photos to meet the self-esteem needs of teachers of any gender and orientation. 
As time went on, however, and more posts started turning up on friends' Facebooks, I stopped giggling and started pondering. After I found the site myself (rather than just hitting "like") and read more of the submissions, I actually got a little choked up. The pictures are silly, yet they fill a pretty gaping void. Simple, unconditional praise is a rare commodity in education these days, especially where teachers are concerned. Much more common is the "black coffee in a pretty cup" as we say here in Austin. Or the sh%$ sandwich as my friend MW used to call it. It goes something like this: Well, that lesson was very effective but how could you have reached all learners? Sure, those kids might have aced the quiz, but was it really rigorous enough? Oh, and have you planned your next field trip/unit/intervention yet? To be fair, we teachers are always hardest on ourselves, throwing out the "pretty cup" altogether in favor of a strong dose of unadulterated critique. When the school year is in full swing, there is rarely time to think of anything other than the next 20 minutes. Reflection of any kind, but especially the "expendable" positive kind, is the first to go.
Which is why it's oddly moving to have the most dashing, dazzling of our cultural icons dishing out specific, teacher-related compliments with the knowledge of a 25-year classroom veteran and the sex appeal of, well, Ryan Gosling. Or Natalie Portman. Or Rachel McAdams. Or Orlando Bloom. It's the specificity of the praise that I find the most touching. It's not the vapid oh-I-admire-you-so-much-not-that-I'd-ever-do-that of strangers. It's the creative, photoshopped fantasy of people who know exactly what we're all going through: beautifully prepared coffee just the way you like it AND the pretty cup. Check it out at Hey Girl Teacher!(This one, I'm pretty sure, was written just for me.)
