Why I Teach

I don't often reflect personally on this blog. But I felt the need to share a special moment that I had recently with my students. This moment reminded me why I teach...

This past week I found myself relishing in the moment more often than usual. My class has finally hit that sweet spot. They are so well-behaved, know our routines and are even more flexible/understanding when our schedule changes or things don't go quite as planned. We had so much fun this week, despite our three mornings of silence while older students were testing next door. This time of year is always so bittersweet. I realize why some leaders and teachers promote looping. As a teacher, you invest so much time getting know every single student and each student's family. You learn their likes, dislikes, strengths/needs and what motivates them the best. You learn how hard to push them and when you have to back off. And you fall in love with each and every one of them every single day. You love them on their good days and you love them on their bad days. At the end of the year, you just want more and more time with them. This week I was able to meet with each student individually on multiple occasions to go over assessments and goals. It was so nice to have that time with each of them. They were so excited and grateful to see their progress. When I talked with them about what they needed to work on, they didn't pout or get upset. Each student thanked me for the feedback.

Yesterday we were reading, "Ralph S. Mouse," by Beverly Cleary. I laughed so hard while reading to my sweet second graders, that I started crying. In the story, poor Ralph (the mouse) was stuck inside a fishbowl listening to poems the students had written about him. Some were not so nice and some were just plain silly. But Ralph was about to be put on display to run a maze. They were going to test Ralph's intelligence by timing him to see how fast he could run the maze. Ralph was not happy about this. In fact, he had his back turned to the children as they read to him. But the funniest part of all, was when Ralph ran the maze. He jumped up on top of the walls and cheated his way to the peanut butter at the end of the maze. You should have heard my class giggling. It was a moment I will never forget. I almost couldn't read the rest of the chapter because I was laughing/crying so hard. When I finished the chapter, all of my students yelled, "NOOOOoooooo! Please read one more chapter!" I love it. Maybe just maybe...they will read a few more books this summer because of it. Or maybe they will just smile and laugh when they think about the time Ms. Read read to them and giggled so hard she cried. It's moments like these that remind me why I teach...