The Best Teacher's Day Gift

You know sometimes when we put alot of work into something and it is a little different from what other folks may be doing you want some indication that you are doing the right thing. Last week was Teacher's Day. The day that students give gifts to their teachers. I didn't receive many. Not nearly as much as my colleagues. I felt really bad because I thought that this was a way that the parents show that they think you are a good teacher. Maybe I wasn't.

From the beginning, with my kindergarten class I was very strict. I really worked hard on them being polite and respectful. Learning when it is okay to play and when it is time to work. It has been hard because I don't want to be mean but I also don't want my students to think it is a free for all. Well it seems that the hard work is paying off. I am seeing tremendous improvements in my students' behaviour as well as their characters. We have to write in these journals for their parents once a week. One mother wrote back to me saying that she didn't know that her son worked hard to learn in class and that now she and her husband will see him as capable of much more. That made so happy. His behaviour at home has also improved it seems and I had no idea. I am seeing first hand that if a teacher sees their students, sees them as already the giants that they are, then the students will rise to the occasion. It was the best teacher's day gift I could have ever gotten.