#20: Students who are Thankful

Trying to think of the positive parts of your day can be hard for anyone on a given day. Sometimes I tend to think it can be harder for teachers especially if you choose to focus on negatives or listen to others. That is why I started counting and listing the things I am thankful for as a teacher during my first year.

Today, I am VERY thankful for students who are thankful! Seeing just one student's gratitude really put me in a different mood. This student came back after being out all three days this week. She is a smart student but she really did miss a lot of important information since we started the next unit. She came in third block a tad flustered. She had the look of "oh no, what have I missed?" I told her, "I am not stressed about you missing so I don't want you to be either." She sighed and I told her to just see what she could do today and get caught up as much as possible and then Monday while they take a major quiz I will talk with her about the material. She felt so relieved because her previous two classes had everything due back Monday. Maybe that means I am too "easy" but I wouldn't want to be her if that was the case for all four classes. She thanked me then which was great.

Later on during class though, she checked back that I was sure this was still our arrangement and she said she just HAD to give me a hug for being so understanding. It was so sweet (though I did ask to make sure she wasn't still sick)!! This may seem small but it felt really good to know something I was doing that I thought really was for the best of the student was acknowledged by the student!

On a smaller example of gratitude, a hilarious student who is full of energy and who me and him are working on appropriate behavior has had previous issues with thankfulness. After doing a candy lab the first week he complained he did not get exactly 32 skittles like another student. He only got 27. Today, he won something and I gave him some of the leftover skittles. He looked at me very intentionally and said "THANK YOU--I appreciate however much comes out of the bag into my hands. I love SKITTLES!" It made me laugh and I was happy to see he learned his lesson that time!