Have you ever woken up grumpy? I rarely do, but today was one of those grump fests for me. I won't go into the whole morning drama. If you have home kids and you teach, you get it. However, one of my school kids, Alex, came up to me at the end of our reading block and said I want to show you something. Alex never asks me to do anything (really!) and he's very quiet, which I needed right then, so I followed him to the science station. He said, "I found this part in one of these books on rocks about weathering." He proceeded to look at the covers of 4 or 5 books until he found the right one, then found the word weathering on the page, and read the page to me. As he was quietly reading, I started to think of all the steps it took him to get to that one passage that related to what we had talked about the day before in science:
looking at and reading multiple texts, nonfiction, no less
thinking of what we had learned in science
relating the book he read to what we've studied
remembering the passage until the end of our reading block
telling me about it
showing me a specific place in a text that he remembered
all on his own.
I showered him with compliments on his hard work and my day became happy in that one instant with that one child. I love my job. Thanks, Alex!
Isn't it amazing the power a kid can have to change your mood. I sometimes find it impossible to stay grumpy when I get around my students. They are full of life and it is usually catching!
ReplyDeleteVery cool--especially since I know him and can actually picture the two of you in the science center during this exchange. I'm glad he cured your grumpy morning and I hope you know that your school kids have pulled me out of grumpiness multiple times this year. :)
ReplyDeleteThis post makes me happy. We are so privileged to see things like this with our students on a daily basis!
ReplyDeleteToday, one of my 8th graders left my room, saying, "Thank you, Mrs. Robinson." Even though my name is NOT Mrs. Robinson, I told him 'bye.
ReplyDeleteI looked up when he walked backwards into the room and all the way to my desk. "Can we rewind that? That was rude. Thank YOU, Mrs. Waters." he said and proceeded out the door, smiling all the way.
He made my day.
I understand how Alex made you feel. Good feeling, right?
What a moment for you as a teacher. I think you've got Alex hooked on science!!
ReplyDeleteNice post!
ReplyDelete