We found this latest blog post from Steven Kaminski downright inspiring.

Kaminski is an elementary school teacher, who also keeps a regular blog of reflections and stories meant to help other teachers bond over shared frustrations, find encouragement, and celebrate successes.

For those of you who missed class, Kaminski shared that the most important lesson he's learned as a teacher is making sure his students know he cares enough about them to spend the time to make them happy. Building that sort of relationship and connection — one rooted in kindness and caring — is the foundation of his success in the classroom.

For Kaminski, that means a tradition of making a special birthday hat for each of his students. As he writes, these are no ordinary hats. They’re elaborate, celebratory lids that he painstakingly customizes with decorations and words that relate to the eventual wearer. It takes him a lot of time to work on each one, but students treasure the funny and thoughtful gesture, often keeping them for years.

We’re proud to know a fellow Spider is bringing compassion and kindness to his classroom of elementary school kids. We know it's inspiring fellow teachers, and it's also inspiring to us.