good&plenty

A student told me today: "Your class is the first history class that I really enjoy taking notes in.  And I even like the tests because I actually do good!"

I can't tell you how good that feels as a teacher.

The past few weeks I've been reflecting on my first year, and I sometimes wonder if I was really the teacher I had hoped to be.

Some days I feel like I am still so far from that teacher.

But days like this make my little heart swell with gratitude and pride.

I did it.

I survived my first year, and at least one student likes tests! Because she does well on them!

That was my whole goal!

To make kids feel like they can succeed.

But let me tell you--there are really hard days.

And they are plenty.

Funny moment of the day:

I was talking about Princess Diana and when I first said her name I said, "Princess Diana, the Princess of Wales"

A student looked up with a sincerely confused face and said, "Wait, are we talking about mermaids?"

I think all of us were confused, until another student said, 

"A princess of whales? What does that even mean? Does she swim with them or something?"

And then it clicked.

WHALES! ha!

Needless to say, we all started laughing after that.

Oh my. I just love their innocent minds.

This job...seriously so rewarding!