This is Why I Became a Teacher

We just finished our first full week of school yesterday. What an exciting week we had. I wanted to share the reason I decided to be a teacher.

I have a student that is new to the district and seems very insecure with himself. All week I kept reassuring him that he could do his work and that he was smart, but his comments were always something like "I can't", "I'm not smart enough", "I never will be able to do it." On Wednesday, after 3 days for these comments, I decided to start him on a sticker chart. If he could make it through a lesson/activity without using a negative comment he would earn a sticker. I explained this to him and all day Wednesday he really struggled using only positive comments. I was very lenient, reminding him and even gave him a couple of stickers when he probably shouldn't have earned them. Well, his first day he wasn't able to earn a prize, which I felt horrible about. He did however earn a prize on Thursday, but that was through shear determination on my part. On Friday we began a game called "Homeworkopoly." Check it out here. I told them that morning that if they turned in their homework they would get to play. This little boy immediately went to his mailbox to make sure he had turned in his homework, which he had. He got his homework out and was looking it over, even though he had graded it. The only thing I had done was add a star for completion. He came over to me and asked "Why did I get a star? I missed 2 and I shouldn't have gotten a star." I told him that he did a good job on the ones he had gotten right and made a great effort on the ones he missed. He said ok and walked away. I could see he was thinking about I said, but left him alone and we began our day. About an hour later he came up to me and said, and get your tissue ready because it might just bring tears to your eyes, "You were right, Miss Tinsley! I can do it! I just have to think positive and do the right thing." We had a good day after that and he was able to earn another prize. While I know there are bound to be hard days ahead, I also know that for this little guy, if I keep working with him and making him see that he can do it, I will have made a difference. That is why I became a teacher, to make a difference in the lives of all my students.

Let's hope that we have many many more days of positive thoughts and great successes, because I am ready for them all. I just hope that all my students know what they got themselves into for signing up for my class for a 3rd year. It's going to be a wonderful year!