After a month off, even though I love my job, I felt a bit grouchy being back in school. I've come home exhausted every night. However, I had two things happen that reminded me how fortunate I am to have this job.
We were working on the simple past tense of regular verbs. I put examples of the spelling rules on the board. If you haven't studied English grammar lately, you really don't spend much time thinking about the rules. If a single syllable word ends in consonant, vowel, consonant; double the last consonant and add ed. If a word ends with a consonant plus y, drop the y and add ied. If a word ends with a vowel plus y, just add ed. There are more rules, but I'm sure you get the idea. (By the way, I love grammar, but I know not everyone feels the same.) Halfway through the lesson, one of my students said, "I understand! I understand!" She was thrilled. She had a great big grin on her face. I am grateful to that student for making me feel so good about teaching. I'm also grateful to her for making me remember how cool it is when you're working hard to learn something new and all of a sudden, everything clicks. Yahoo! I get it! (Time for me to take some more classes myself.)
Yesterday as I was getting into my truck to leave, a student came running over to me. She threw her arms around me and gave me a big hug. She hadn't been to school in at least six months, but she told me she was there to register and was coming back on Tuesday. I'm grateful to her for making me feel so good. She didn't give up. Hooray!
One more thing. (Did you used to watch Columbo when you were a kid?) I'm grateful to Celeste for taking time to stop by my blog and comment. She really brightens my day. Check out her blog. You won't be disappointed! It's pure magic.
As always, I'm grateful to Diana Strinati Baur for starting Gratitude Friday.
Oh! One more thing. I'm grateful for my "blogger friends". (Please see the right side of my blog.) They are the most interesting people! I love getting glimpses of their lives.
4 comments:
I also want to thank and hug you for the grammar lesson. English is not my first language, I learned it in school, then moved around the world and realized English is the universal language. So I applied myself to learning it well. You must be a very nice teacher, no wonder the children respond so well.
Thanks too for your kind words.
I bet it is very rewarding to see the light bulb go on and realize they get it.....because of you :)
Tracey
I love grammar too! Of course, I do not remember all of the rules, but I generally do very well with it. Generally. LOL I love when you blog, Candy. I always enjoy each and every entry. I remember when I was subbing and the simple satisfaction I felt when the kids liked me. One little first grader at one school I subbed in was a difficult student for the school. I tried to make an extra effort with her and she used to occasionally plant a kiss on my cheek! (It always took me by surprise.) I found that if I had some faith in her, her behavior improved tenfold. I subbed on a day when they had testing and I was asked to score their tests. They were supposed to write short sentences on one page and she wrote 'I love you' on every line. Of course, she missed every one of them, but I couldn't help but think this little one needed love and attention more than she needed anything else.
Celeste, you write English so beautifully that nobody would guess that it isn't your first language. I speak and write a little Spanish. I would like to become fluent in Spanish and maybe learn one other language. What languages besides English did you study in school? You must know about four or five - Portuguese, French, Spanish, English... Wonderful!
Tracey, it is fun when a student understands a lesson. I can't take the credit. They work really hard!
Autumn Leaves, I get a kick out of your blog, too. Your little first grader sounds so sweet.
Aren't you pleased with your recent paintings?
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