A Teacher Moment

The past couple weeks have school have been crazy. All of the children are ready for a break, and let's face it... the teachers are too! We still have another 3 and 1/2 weeks before Spring Break arrives, and so I am faced looking for new and inventive ways to keep my class involved and even more engaged than usual. Last week in the midst of these thoughts, I thought back to when I was a kid (sorry teachers!) and how I know all of my peers and myself were probably driving our teachers absolutely crazy.. it's a little weird now being on the other side. As children, we weren't deliberately trying to make them crazy, it was just needing some outlets to release that anxiousness of spring fever. I realized that this weekend after seeing two of my past teachers. Yesterday, my sister & I volunteered with JLF for the American Girl Fashion Show, a fundraiser for the Child Advocacy Center in Fayetteville. There, I saw my 5th grade teacher, then Ms. Bass, now Mrs. Brock. Her daughter, who is now in 4th grade, was in the show yesterday. I approached her and told her who I was, and that I now teach in the same 5th grade classroom that she did when I was her student. We chatted for a while, and then I thought about how years from now how happy I would/will be when a student that I taught years ago tells me about where they are now. At that moment, I don't think I will think of the days I went home thinking of how bad I wanted Spring Break to arrive, bur rather the times we spent laughing and learning in our little VanStory classroom.. the same way I did growing up. The same is the case for my high school history teacher, who instilled in me the love for Social Studies and studying the world in which we live. I never knew sitting in her classroom in 9th grade that I would go to college to earn a concentration in Elementary SS. Teachers have profound effects on the lives of their students, and in return their students give back to them. I am so thankful that the teachers I had in school did not make it clear to me that they were looking forward their Spring Break! Seeing these teachers who had such an influence in my life made me realize that I need to make sure my students see the same in their teacher every day.. no matter how bad I might be wanting a break! Here's to having patience for the next 9 weeks of this 2010-2011 school year!