You know, I can't remember the last time I had a "bad day." Honestly. As a teacher, one of my goals is to create a classroom where my students feel loved and accepted for who they are. What's funny is that I don't put myself into that equation -I'm not trying to create a place where I feel loved and accepted. Yet, in the beautiful bond that has formed among the students in my class, I have found myself loved and accepted among them. Here's a couple of examples:
I have a very respectful, orderly class this year (I've told them since day 1 of school: "We are a class of order, not a class of chaos." and, thankfully, it has stuck.). Lunch is difficult though because several classes are eating in the lunchroom and it can easily get rowdy. Well, after one or two teacher complaints about the goofy-ness taking place at the 5th/6th grade table at lunch I decided that I would eat lunch with them a couple days a week -not as a punishment -simply as a way to help manage the lunchroom for the teacher on duty and to spend some out of class time with my students. For any teachers out there, you know that giving up an already short lunch period is a real sacrifice. But in this case it has turned into one of the highlights of my day. My students excitedly ask me every day if I'm going to eat with them -and when the answer is occasionally no, they are quite offended! What's been interesting is that my presence doesn't quiet or silence them or bring about forced conversation, it's still a natural flow to their lunch period.
Secondly, while on morning duty the other day, one of my 5th graders came sprinting into the waiting area (because we don't have a bus system, students are dropped off anytime after 8 and the teacher on duty supervises until everyone is dismissed to their classrooms at 8:15.). She stopped just short of me, with a huge smile on her face. I said, "Wow, you couldn't get here fast enough. School must be the best place to be!" She kept her big smile and said, "It is!" The cool thing is, this girl comes from a great family, she has a great home life, and so I know school is not simply a safe haven for her.
Lastly, while my students were studying their Bible memory verse this past week, a few of them were saying how hard it is to memorize things like that. One of the other students suggested making it into a song because "it's way easier to learn that way." Some of the girls seemed fine with this idea, but the rest of the girls and the boys seemed to turn their noses up at the idea. So I chimed in, "Or you could rap it" and I began to make a rap of their Bible verse. It was obviously poorly done, but got several laughs and when I finished one of my 6th graders blurted, "Miss Sjoberg, that is why you are the best teacher ever." I wasn't trying to win any teacher awards by turning a Bible verse into a rap, but I'm sure the whole experience will not be soon forgotten by anyone.
