Appreciation

This week I have realized how much I really enjoy my job. With it being the end of a school year, I am putting in some extra time to get things wrapped up...grades, conferences, meetings, planning...not to mention the fact that I am also responsible for the actual teaching part...my favorite! Anyway, even with all the extra responsibilites I know I am doing what I was designed to do. I love seeing the faces of these six and seven year olds when they realize they know how to do something they didn't think they could do. Yesterday, I had my students write a final copy for something we had written the previous day. Mind you for first graders this is a very long and daunting task. First of all, they think writing it one time means they have done it perfectly. They don't know if they forgot to capitalize their sentences. Punctuation...what's that for?!! Not to mention their very creative way of spelling things (aprenss = apprentice...poleesn = policeman) One of my students, Joey, comes up to the table to get some coaching and I told him he received a score of 4 (which for first grade is the highest score your can receive). His face beamed so brightly you would have thought he won the lottery. He was so excited he couldn't wait to get home and tell his mom! This, my friends, is the reason I teach. To be a part of watching someone else be excited about their own learning is...priceless.