I’m joining
up with Ruth Ayres for her weekly link-up, Celebrate This Week. Check out all
of the posts linked up at her blog HERE.
Thanks for starting this, Ruth!
This week reminded me that my students are listening, even when I question that fact sometimes.
- During fifth grade basketball practice several boys from my reading class asked my husband (one of their coaches) if he knew how to spell onomatopoeia. When he asked why, they explained our lesson from class today and said that I shared that I couldn’t spell the world. I was impressed that they remembered the lesson, remembered what they learned, and recalled a throwaway fact I had shared.
- Numerous times in writing this week I had students whisper to me that they were writing about something hard going on in their lives because “writing makes you heal.”
- One student had a strong reaction to Knock Knock: My Dad’s Dream for Me by Daniel Beaty. We talked quietly about how books can help us see a path forward when all seems clouded. If you haven't seen this beautiful book, you must. Here is a YouTube video of the author sharing his story. Powerful.
- And last night I went to watch our high school basketball game with Chris and the boys. We sat in the front row because they boys wanted to be “close to the action.” I haven’t been to a basketball game for some time. It was fabulous to see old students and current ones. To watch the high school band goofing off with expressions of pure joy. To witness the growth of these kids who were so small only six years ago, now tower above me. And not just physical growth, but the maturity that comes with age is awesome to observe. Watching the kids play in the game, talking with those that came to sit by me, getting hugs from children that I now have to stand on my tip toes to embrace – that fills me up.
I went to
bed content. I’m so grateful I live where I do. Grateful that I know these
families and get to watch their children grow. I’m not just part of their life
during fifth grade, but I have the opportunity to know them for so much longer.
To see that what I taught them when they were ten is something they still
remember when they are seventeen. That is something I am celebrating today.
