November 9th. Today I am thankful for people who recognize the hard work I do with my students and the difference I try to make each day. Being a teacher (and especially one who works in child care) you usually catch a lot more flack for what you didn't do or what you didn't do "right" (in the opinion of the parent) than you do thanks or appreciation, let alone compliments. I'm not saying I need praise every time I turn around. I mean after all, I TEACH three year olds....I'm not the three year old. :)
But nonetheless, it's still nice to be validated every once in a while, especially when you think the day is going particularly poorly.
Well today I had an observer in my classroom who saw the good I try to do each day and with just a few sentences, gave my spirits a lift they greatly needed.
Right now I have a class of 15 children. 11 boys and 4 girls. Needless to say it gets a little crazy! On top of that I have one child with autism and 2 children whose native languages are not English. They are a great group of kids but they can be more than a handful at times to say the least. So often I feel like all I do for 8 hours a day is "put out fires" and that I never actually teach them anything. I know that's not true but it can still get disheartening and frustrating at times. Especially with Vinnie being gone, it's hard to have a tough day at school and come home to only my husbands face on the webcam instead of having his loving arms to hold me like I'm used to. But I digress.....
So this very nice observer, who was here to do some evaluations on "Johnny," whom I've previously mentioned in my posts, spoke to me when she was done observing and told me what a wonderful classroom I have and what excellent listeners the children are and that the environment both physical and climate wise has an excellent feeling in it and she wishes she saw more rooms like mine and teachers like me. She also praised me for what an excellent job I had done in helping create and foster such a positive and supportive environment for Johnny, and the other students, to learn and grow in. She had no prior information about Johnny and said that as far as she could see as an unbiased observer, he fit in perfectly with his peers and seemed to listen well and be very happy in his surroundings.
As she was telling me this I had several children putting books on their heads and yelling at each other and doing all sorts of things that were not something I wanted anyone to walk in my room and observe. I thanked her for her compliments and I apologized for their rowdiness to which she replied, "I taught Sunday school for over 15 years and I could never manage to do as well as you do with them. I can tell they are all happy, well cared for and well taught children who love their teacher very much. Thank you for allowing me to come into your room today....it's been such a pleasure." I have never been so touched by a stranger in all my life and her words were truly humbling. This was God's way of reminding me that what I am doing is making a difference....no matter how hard the days may get, or no matter how many times I have to stop my kids for hitting each other, throwing sand or crying because the coveted "red bike" is being used currently. For all of the above, I am so thankful.
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