My Best Day in Education...
After 21 years, there are so many best days that include a thank you, an awesome insight, or just a laugh. But my best days are always the days when the "light bulb" goes on for a student. Last year before we all departed for Covid Remote Learning, I had one of the most memorable of these moments.
Jesse was in my 3rd bell and was one of the quiet students. He was rather the head down, make no eye contact type student to avoid being called on in class. He did not put forth a lot of effort in to any of the class activities nor was he boisterous. Mostly, he just sat and existed. On this one particular day, we were doing a word fill-in type activity where students would use their notes to fill-in a timeline Popplet as a study guide. It turned into great fun as students would shout out different words, that were in fact all appropriate even if not directly from the notes. It was a bit like MadLibs. On this day, Jesse raised his hand and proudly gave an answer. I don't remember what he said, but I do remember him quickly thrusting his hand in the air, me calling on him, him giving the answer, and then, when I said terrific choice, a big smile came to his face. It was fantastic! I could see that he not only understood, but was proud to feel apart of the class. I went to call on him again, but another student misread it to be him that I was calling on and gave the answer Jesse was going to say. He just shrugged and smiled. But from that moment on, he was a different student that was just a bit more willing to try and be apart of his education.
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