Mutual Teardrops!

Today I received the greatest compliment of my whole career, or at least It had to have been in the top 5! It happened in a second grade guidance class. At our school, which has over 1000 children, our second graders are our "seniors". Since we only have kindergarten through second grade, we have to say goodbye as students prepare to enter third grade. This can be very hard to do, especially for staff members like me who teach the entire school every year. I have 3 years to fall in love with the children, and then, poof, they're gone! Well we had had a lively lesson of figuring out the reasons for bad behaviors depicted in both true-life stories and fiction. A super-shy little girl whom I'd tried to help this year had read a funny story called Underpants Dance to the class, and her voice had been loud enough for everyone to hear! Lots of laughter had accompanied her reading of the book, and I think she felt good about being the belle of the ball, so to speak. At the end of class, I let the children dance to Happy, by Pharrell Williams, which thrilled them to pieces. I figured the last week of school was the perfect time for that song! As you can see, we'd had a fun time together. Now for the compliment: As I packed up my materials and the class lined up for lunch, children gathered 'round me for final goodbye hugs and sweet words. All of a sudden, I saw one of the boys crying near the end of the line and heard the teacher asking, from the front of the line, what was wrong. The stocky little boy's face was red and all screwed up as if he'd been hurt, and nobody seemed to know why. The teacher asked the sad child to come see him, and the child said that he was crying because it was the last guidance class. I reached him quickly, gave him a tight squeeze, and told him that I'd never had anyone make me feel so loved. I'm sure that 

the little boy recovered quickly, but this will stand out to me as a bright spot when I wonder if I'm making a difference in the lives of children. What an honor to receive on the last Friday of the school year!