Precious Moments

Sometimes kiddos remind you of why you became a teacher.

The other day I was filling in in kindergarten. I had been in this class a little before and these kids were pretty comfortable with me. We were working on a paper where they were tracing and writing the number 3. A little girl walked up to me and handed me her paper and I said "Sweetheart, it isn't finished, you traced the 3s but you have to write them too." She looks at me and says "I can't write 3s I don't know how to!" I said "But you traced them so I know you can do it if you try." She started to cry. She was crying because she didn't want to try. I chose to go the tough love route because I believe in challenging students and encouraging a growth mindset. You don't get to cry because you don't want to try. So I told her "This is not a reason to cry, you're not a baby." She kept crying and started getting loud. So in a calm voice I said "Well if you're going to cry you can go sit in that chair over there and when you're ready to work you can come back." She sat in the chair and cried for a while and I did NOT engage her. Eventually she stopped crying and I said "If you're ready to work you can come back over." So she came back and sat down. I said "Now if you're ready to work I can help you and we can try this together." She nodded her head yes. So I talked to her about how to make a 3 and reminded her that she had just traced a bunch of 3s. When she did one on her own I was shocked that it was almost perfect. I said "See that 3 is beautiful you don't need my help." and I left her to finish them. When she came to show me she was finished I said to her "I knew you could do it." and she gave me the biggest hug as if to say "Thank you for believing in me".

It was something as small as writing the number 3 and even though I had just made her cry a few minutes before, she knew I cared about her and believed in her. My kids get upset with me sometimes but the know I love and encourage them and they respect me.