Look How They've Grown!

Educators have the privilege of seeing impressive growth in children throughout the school year, and here are two examples. First, I'll start with a tiny little kindergarten boy who used to have to sit in a rocking chair instead of on the carpet in order to control his wiggles. He also used to blurt out incessantly during teaching time and pout whenever things didn't go exactly his way. Although he still has struggles, he can now sit on the carpet with his class without disturbing others, is much more pleasant ant positive, and is actually quite eager to please. One day this week, he saw me making my morning rounds down his hallway, hustled to the door of his classroom, flagged me down, and said, "Miss Mimi, I want to be a peacemaker and spread sunshine. I don't want to spread thunderstorms." And he meant every word of                 it.....he's proving it with his actions!

The other example comes from a child in the class two doors down the hall. This fair-skinned boy had behaviors similar to the previously mentioned child. He used to make demands all through teaching time, make almost constant noises, rock on his bottom, and rarely look happy. In fact, the first time I ever went to his class, he had a major fit as I explained the rules and had to be taken out of the classroom to calm down. As I recall, that tantrum lasted for half an hour or so. He also had meltdowns in other settings and was a frequent visitor to the principal's office. Well this little boy has come a long way, as has his older brother who has some of the same behaviors. When I was in the kindergartner's class this past week, we had a lesson on calming down strong feelings (our second in a unit). After our story, we sang and danced to a song called "Monster", which teaches us not to lose our tempers and consequently act like little monsters. The children love this song and are typically still singing as I leave their rooms. On this particular day, I was packing up my materials when this child approached me, tugged on my sleeve to get my attention, looked up at me with huge light green eyes, and said, "Miss Mimi, I used to get mad and have to go to the office, but I calmed down." Although those are simple and spare words, there was so much truth and meaning behind them, and I teared up just thinking of how much effort had gone into this transformation. I was also grateful that the little boy was aware of how much better he was behaving at school. We have some wonderfully compassionate, patient teachers, as do all schools, and I applaud them. Additionally, I'm greatly impressed with children who work so hard at overcoming struggles that are over and above those of most of their peers.

Yep, teaching is full of highs and lows, but the tear-jerker moments are priceless, and there are plenty of them as the school year winds down!

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