By the end of the day..

Every once and awhile I have a day that reminds me why I love teaching. It isn’t for the funny things that kids say (although I love that). We were starting to use our writing journals today, and I have this basket with writing ideas laminated on index cards. I get them from a variety of sources: my head, my heart, teaching magazines, books on teaching writing, etc. Anyway, I reached into the writing basket and this card came out: “If your teacher won a million dollars, what do you think s/he’d would do with it?” Just as I finished reading the question and a boy in my class said: “she’d choose a different career.” If you knew this boy’s personality, you’d know (like I did) that he didn’t mean it to be disrespectful. So, after quieting the reaction of the rest of the class, I said, “what makes you say that?” He said, “as a teacher, you probably don’t make a lot of money. You see, you’re one of the smartest people I know and I think you should make more money.” It was coming from a really sweet place! I realized there is a lot to what he said. Not surprisingly, he knew that teachers don’t make that much money. I started wondering if he could even conceive of another reason why I am a teacher. So, I asked, and he couldn’t. Wanting to move on with my lesson, I said: “think about it, and give me an answer at the end of the day.” He agreed, and we finished the lesson.

There was no mention of this until I was standing in the lunch room. The same little boy came over to me and said, “Hey, Ms. F, I have a riddle for you.” Humoring him, I said, “let me hear.” He said, “a man is laying dead on the floor of his office. The only thing in the room is an apple and a spilled glass of water. How did he die.” I made two suggestions: “He had a heart attack?” and “he choked on the apple.” With a huge smile, the boy said, “nope, both wrong.” Wanting this conversation to end, I said, “I give up!” He took a deep breath and said, “okay, think about it and give me an answer by the end of the day.” I had know choice but to give the kid a high five.