One reason I love being a teacher
Kindergartners make me smile. For one half hour each day, I go into a kindergarten class and work with one student. I sit down at his table that he shares with three other classmates. One of the students, Zach, always gives up his chair for me. You know, those really little chairs. As I sit down next to my student, his classmates start telling me, all at the same time, what work my student needs to finish. (It takes him a bit longer to finish his work each day.) They tell me, just like they were the teacher, exactly how he is supposed to complete his classwork. I smile. They are all so cute. The only girl at the table, Clara, is 6 going on 20. She's adorable. Anyway...today was an especially eventful day. My student finally colored "in the lines!" Yes, he has always "scribble scrabbled" as his tablemate Nathan would say. But today, I thought, I'm going to get him to focus and show him how to color without scribbling. Amazing. He colored within the lines...well, sort of, but close enough. He took his time and tried really hard. Nathan was so excited for him that he started yelling out to his other classmates, "He's coloring in the lines!!!! Look, he's coloring in the lines!!" Okay, now you have to imagine what it's like in a kindergarten classroom at 2:00 in the afternoon. There's 23 kids all over the room, doing all sorts of activities. It's centers time. Mass confusion. And unfortunately the teacher was absent today and not able to witness this historic event. The sub really didn't understand the significance of my student coloring in the lines. But I did and so did his tablemates and other classmates. But most importantly, he did. If you could have seen the proud smile on his face, it would have made you smile. I did. And that's one of the reasons I just love teaching.
posted by Flower Mound Mom at 7:08 PM
5 Comments:
What a nice moment! Sometimes, those moments are like a pay increase...and thanks for sharing this one. Very, very cool.
I also hope that when they get older that their friends will get equally as excited when they choose to color "outside the lines." Once you learn to color inside them, it's awfully hard to break that habit.
This reminds me of how I started coloring in the lines (which I had almost forgotten until your story). I was in 2nd grade (yes, sad but true) and I never saw the need for coloring in the lines (I'm still somewhat this way!). A friend of mine (whom I still write) told me I was a messy color-er and I was quite embarrassed. Really I didn't think anything was wrong with the way I chose to color. But alas, the peer pressure got to me and I started coloring in the lines. And yes, I did finally master the skill.
But really - it's much more fun to be different and color a LITTLE outside the lines. I think it makes a statement, don't you??
(Great post! These kids are blessed to have you as their teacher!)
Only because I am invested in the field of early childhood development, I've got to point out that coloring in the lines is much more about fine motor strength and subsequent cognitive growth than it is about conforming to a norm. :)
Sometimes you have to master a skill first in order to purposefully reject it.
Once again, it can be noted that so much of what we understand in life, we learned in kindergarten...even if we're not aware of the truth of this.
Pam, very well put. Thank you for understanding. Yes, this child definitely needed to learn how to color within the lines. He already lives too far "outside the box!" Much of what he will do in his life will appear different from his peers, so it's great that he can accomplish this much.
what an accomplishment!
I'm so proud of him. Would you tell him there is a teacher a long way away that smiled when she heard what he had strived so hard to do - and DID!
Good Job! Both of you. You for your patience (gedult) and he for his perseverence!
Super!
Thanks for sharing - it brought many memories of such rare moments in a child's life. Moments that are to be treasured. Moments that they can point to and say, "I did that right!"
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