Wednesday, June 13, 2012

9


9 - Cross-posted from Biking to School, where you can catch up on my retirement thoughts, starting in 20, and counting backward:

This will be quick. Nine more days to be a teacher. No time to waste. Today, a little story from my third grade classroom:

I'm roaming around, seeing how everybody is doing on their self directed and paced spelling unit for the week (35!), when I come up on a student who looks up from his work and says to me,

"Mr. Ahlness, I'm really lucky. In second grade I had Ms. NXXX, and this year I have you." He looked up at me with a smile so genuine, I had difficulty speaking.

I gave him a shoulder hug.
I told him I was lucky to have HIM in my class.
I looked at his partner, who was listening, and said I was lucky to have her, too.
And the same to a neighboring student who happened to overhear this quiet conversation.

We all smiled. It felt good.
The kids resumed working on their spelling.
I had to walk away to regain my composure.

This is what I will miss about being a teacher.

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