Brief Thoughts on Thankfulness...

As the Thanksgiving holiday approaches, I'd like to think of things to be thankful for.

It's easy to do sometimes; other times, not as much.

My students have already been forced to think about what they're thankful for. They had an assignment in one of their classes in these weeks leading up to the holiday where they had to write a thank you note to a teacher for something they appreciate. I received a few cards, a few notes, and one extremely large poster.

It really is lovely to receive a thank you from a student, since you never really know how much is getting through. One of my favorite students from last year (I know, I know, you can't have favorites... but she was. She almost needed to be a favorite of mine, because none of the other teachers really cared for her at all, since she was a very difficult kid, but since she reminded me of myself, we got along very well...) gave me a card that told me that she can't look at the world in the same way anymore. This is thrilling! I have changed her whole viewpoint!

She was talking about something I do with the kids where they are told to find errors in the world of print (books, magazines, web pages, advertisements, etc) and make a copy and bring it in. If it is indeed an error, and no one else has found the same one, they get extra credit, plus they get to put their name on it and staple it to the 'wall of shame.' She was the best at finding errors last year, and she apparently can't stop finding them.

Ah, it just warms the heart. Especially as a language arts teacher.

The other notes were lovely, too, even the one who didn't put their name on it (echoing how they turn in their papers.)

So... here is a very short list of what I'm thankful for.

• A student begging to do an activity (like the music journals or Sparkle)
• A kid who tells me they found our vocabulary word in the real world, and is amazed, because they thought I made it up.
• Being able to work with 6th graders still. ( I am always afraid I'll get switched to a different grade.)
• Meeting a parent who says they have heard about me, and mostly in a good way.

There is so many more things I could put, but honestly, I'm pleased to be doing what I do with the kids I have.

Hooray for 6th graders!