~as we give a year of our life~

The school year will be quickly winding down and as I look at the calendar and see that it is already the 22nd day of March, I find myself asking the same old question as before.

Where did the time go?

Back in August when "the 22" walked through the door that first day of class, I surely did not realize how fast the first 7 months of being together would fly by.  Yet they most certainly have.  Now we are down to nearly the home stretch and there remains plenty to be learned, perhaps in many ways more learning than the first 7 months combined.  

So here we go.

Every year that I have been a teacher, I have found myself learning more and more new things. Many of those awakenings are about myself.  There are days when those children, now called "the 20", have taught me more than I could have ever possibly taught them that day.  They will never even realize it, this "teaching the teacher" something idea but they surely have.  To my students, children who are only 6 and 7 years old, I am beholden and much obliged.

Until my dying day (which I hope by the way is somewhat way out there in the future) I will steadfastly remain true to the idea that children need to learn life's lessons.  It has been my privilege to teach those to them this year.  I fully realize the necessity to teach to the standards and make sure that everything is covered in reading, writing, math, social studies and science.  I want my students to be well prepared for what they will encounter in the 2nd grade next year and even beyond that.  It is easier for some of them than others but I do know that they will get "there", albeit in their own time and fashion.  

But I refuse to miss out on the chance to teach them "life's most important lessons".  Those are the ones that you will probably never see on any of the 50 states' standards for excellence.  They are the ones that will not be found in any teacher's manual or even scribbled down inside of a plan book.  They come so unexpectedly sometimes and if you are not careful, you miss the chance to teach them altogether.  I have missed my own share of them in the nearly 4 decades that I have been a teacher.  Probably there are more than I would want to count but I rarely miss the chance anymore.  I find myself teaching more and more of them each and every day.  In my opinion it would be a shame to let them go by unnoticed.

One of the life lessons that I love the most is the idea of community.  It was a lesson that I had to learn for myself to teach in those early years back in Kansas.  Not one of my college classes prepared me for it but I got the hang of it anyway.  

I love the idea of turning a classroom of children into a community of learners and when you stop to consider it, why would you not want it to be that way for your students?  Imagine, if you would, this pretty big family of kids in which you have 20 brothers and sisters.  You are together all day long, through the good days as well as the bad ones.  It's kind of important to get along with one another and do things like sharing the resources of the community.  There are only so many pencils that have good erasers on them at this point in the year.  Sometimes a guy has to share with his neighbors.  That's all there is to it.  

Since we are a "family" there are those times when we don't get along with our friends and many days one person might tattle on other, get their feelings hurt, or not be willing to go along with what the rest of the group is doing.  There is no perfect family and there surely is no flawless classroom community either yet each day that we have been together I have seen improvements and one thing is for sure.

That makes me feel happy.

The 41 days that remain of the school year will be done and over before we know it.  Soon it will be the last day of school and I already know how much I will miss them when we say "good bye" to one another.  When they line up to leave that day and I give them one last hug as they scoot out the door for their summer vacation, I want them to know one simple thing.

They have been much loved by me.

It's kind of strange but after 37 years of doing this, I just thought of something.  In order to be their first grade teacher it was necessary for me to give a year of my life to them.  Kind of a sobering thought but the greatest of things is this.

They gave a year of their life to me as well and I was so very blessed by it.

Teaching~the most noble and honorable profession that one could ever imagine and how fortunate I am to have been a part of it.

I always love it when a "kid" grows up and still remembers their old teachers.  This wonderful "brother and sister" did just that.  They are 2 of many!  (Christmas of 2012 at McPherson, Kansas)

About 15 minutes before Mike and I got married that day at school.  They were showing me loose and wiggly teeth.  I was telling them to remember to keep reading over the summer.  It was one of those "win, win" kind of moments.