Insanity & Adoration are Closely Related

Intersession means I work with new kids for a week. Some of them I know from previous intersessions. However, many are completely new to me. By the end of the first day there are some I adore and some that are driving me crazy. (Sometimes those categories would surprise their classroom teachers.)

I often try to learn something about the ones that are driving me crazy as quickly as possible. I only have a week or two with them so I don't want to waste it. If there are effective strategies I should be using or important details I should know, I want to learn it quickly.

This week one boy nearly drove me out of my mind the first day. I spoke to some other teachers after school and learned just a bit about his home life and emotional issues. I was able to be more patient with him yesterday.

Today we are worked with geoboards. I gave them time to play with them, we talked about making shapes and finding other shapes in them, and I gave them shapes to try and copy. They all enjoyed it. This one boy was especially engaged. He showed me shape after shape he created and things he noticed about them. He nearly jumped out of his chair with excitement when I put shapes on the table for them to copy. I sent kids to him when they were struggling to create a certain shape. He was able to be a leader and role model.

I don't think I've changed his life. But he's changed me. I needed the reminder that I have the power to make school successful for kids. I also needed the reminder that kids are so complex. The behaviors that were driving me crazy are not gone but there is so much more to him. He's become one of the kids I adore. And that's my constant goal, to have all the kids be kids I adore.