Happy Wednesday, everyone! I hope you have had a nice morning and early afternoon. My morning, as you might have guessed, was spent in the company of my favorite kindergarteners. I would like to share with you a special heartwarming story of what happened today at school.
Before saying anything else, though, I want to clarify that all names given now and in the future are false. I would never reveal a student's name (or my own). All names you will see will have an asterisk * to remind you that they are pseudonyms.
Every morning we have the children do writing centers. They write down words and sentences that are focused on some topic we are studying in the classroom. (This week it's arctic animals.) If the children finish their writing early, they can do puzzles, brain games, or coloring pages that reflect the topic.
Well, this morning was really hectic for me. I left the house late, got stuck by a train, and just had a bad morning before I even stepped foot in the school.
 |
| My morning in a nutshell |
While I absolutely love working with the kids, teaching is very draining - physically and emotionally. During centers, the room was really noisy and I just felt overwhelmed. I'm by no means claustrophobic, but I could feel the walls slowly closing in on me. What was I to do?
 |
| The "Purple-Winged Awesome Penguin" |
In that moment I needed a reminder of why I voluntarily wake up at six in the morning and place myself in a box of noise and germs and drama.
I'm doing this for the kids. For laughter and love and huge smiles. For brighter students and a brighter future.
I'm doing this for the art.
Unfortunately, art and other extracurricular activities are often neglected in order to emphasize academic subjects that appear in standardized tests. This is a practice often called "teaching to the test."
Do the teachers agree with this? Of course not. There are many who make an effort to include art activities in the regular classroom routine to expand their students' educational experiences.
This is especially true in lower elementary grades, where art can be used to build on written words and make new ideas more understandable and enjoyable.
Since my students' artworks have such a profound effect on me, I decided I want to make this a weekly feature. Every Wednesday I will post a new piece of art and accompanying story for you to read, and for me to remember why I'm doing this. Keep an eye on the tag Wednesday art for future posts. Until next time...
Ms. Fisher
GIF credit: Giphy
I completely understand this post. There is nothing quite like having a student give you just the thing you needed, even though they had no idea you needed it. This happens to me a lot. I agree that teaching is draining, and I think a big reason for that is that we are expected to teach to the test when we don't always see the merit in that approach. I know this is an older post, but I definitely connect with it.
ReplyDelete