Morning Pages: Remember When

remember when

Write about your favorite experience/memory in the classroom so far (if you haven’t been in the classroom yet, write about something you hope to experience). Why does this memory stand out to you? What did you learn from it? What does this experience and how you feel about it say about your beliefs on education in general? How did this moment make you a better student? How will you use this moment to be a better teacher?

My "remember when" moment would be when I was teaching elementary Spanish to a classroom in Boulder, of kindergarteners. I don't remember what we were working on, or what the activity was, but I remember being in a circle with about 10 students. One student, Eva(not her real name), began to cry. Normally, Eva was my star student, and she loved learning Spanish, speaking it, helping other students, being involved, volunteering, you get the idea. But, for this activity, she was not herself, she was not remembering the material and she felt really bad about it. At one point, she began to cry. I asked her what was wrong, and if she was okay. She said, "I miss my mom!" and so I said, "Okay, let's go ahead and sit down and have a chat as a group." We all sat in a circle and Eva told us how her mom was on a business trip in Denmark, for one month, and she really missed her. I could tell this was really affecting her, and it was so comforting to know that she felt comfortable sharing it with me and the group. The other students began to share similar stories of their parents having to travel for business and how they missed them too. Although Eva's eyes were blotchy and red, I could tell she felt relieved, and she was listening intently to her classmates, whom also had felt hurt about similar issues.It was so incredible to me to see them supporting each other, relating with each other, and feeling better through the process. I was so happy that they had all had a chance to know more about each other, about a subject matter that usually isn't highlighted in class, missing parents, sadness and heartache. I feel like it brought us all closer as a group, building trust and compassion.