Hello all,
Thursday will mark three weeks since the last day of school.
During this time, I have been able to reflect on my first year teaching,
including the triumphs, failures, lessons learned, and main take-aways.
This year was by no means easy. I was a brand new teacher; my
kids were straight outta preschool. We were learning everything together…from
the norms and expectations of our school to how to function and thrive as a
class family. It took a lot of work (on my part as well as the part of the
children), but we all put in the effort and had an incredible year. Together,
we laughed, we cried. We danced, we sang. We learned and we loved. Oh my how we
loved.
Before we discuss more happy stuff, let’s talk failure for a
second. Contrary to popular belief, teachers are also human. We mess up. Things
don’t go as planned. Life happens and we sometimes come to work grumpy. We
forget things. I had more than one lesson fall completely on its face. More
often than not, the lessons that failed were ones I had spent a lot of time
planning. Each time this happened, I took it as a learning experience. Of
course, there was a level of disappointment, but I would only allow my pity
party to last a brief moment before reflecting. I would ask myself questions
like “was the delivery the problem?” “Was I lacking materials?” “Did my
students have enough background knowledge?” “Did I model and scaffold enough?” “Did
I give them enough time?” “Did I give them too much time?” “Were the dynamics
of the groups the issue?” “Do I need to reteach this concept and try this
lesson/project again?” These failures helped me grow as a teacher and as I got
more confident in my teaching and fully understood the abilities and needs of
my students, this began happening less and less. Most of the time, my students
did not catch these mishaps because I would just play it off and move on. The
times I failed and they noticed typically had to do with my attitude and tone.
Occasionally I would say something to a student or group of students in a
grouchy or exasperated tone or I would phrase something in a less than positive
manner because I was frustrated. Every time I did this, I would instantly feel
terrible. They’re five and six for goodness sake. I would use these times to
model apologies. It was very important for my students to see me admit my
mistake and apologize in a genuine manner. These occurrences showed my kids 3
things: how to appropriately apologize, adults make mistakes too, and I care
deeply about them. My kids showered me with grace and understanding far beyond
my expectations of a five or six year old.
Now we can talk about the happy stuff. Y’all, I could
probably write a book about the triumphs and successes of my little people this
year, but for now, I will just share my favorite ones.
There were plenty of academic triumphs, such as my student
who did not know any letter sounds at the beginning of the year entering First
Grade knowing 25/26. Or my kiddo who came to me reading on a middle Kinder
level and finished at a mid-Second Grade level. These successes bring me so
much joy, but my favorite ones are not academic…they’re focused on character.
One of my main goals this year was to teach my kids about
kindness, empathy, and friendship. Three things I would tell them all the time
were: “we are family,” “honesty is the best policy,” and “everyone needs
different things to help them learn.” I watched this play out in so many ways,
so I will just share a few quick stories:
About half of my students knew how to tie shoes by
Christmas. The majority could by the end of the year, but there were still a
few that could not do it quite yet. My students that knew how to tie shoes
would offer to show and help the ones that couldn’t instead of bragging or
making fun of them. I even had a kiddo give up part of his center time one day
to teach another child how to tie her shoes because she really wanted to be
able to do it herself.
One day, I was at the white board preparing for our next
lesson while my friends were working at their tables. A sweet kiddo walked up
to me and asked me the same question for the third or fourth time…not because
she wasn’t listening, but because she really did not understand what she was
supposed to do. I asked her to wait a minute so I could finish what I was doing
(and so I could try to think of another way to help her understand) and out of
nowhere, another one of my kids comes up and says to her, “here, let me help,”
and proceeded to show her exactly what she was supposed to do (sometimes kids
are smarter than adults). There was no “I don’t know why you don’t understand,”
but instead, a simple act of kindness and friendship that not only helped my
student with a question, but allowed me to continue preparing my next lesson.
As the year was wrapping up, my students and I did various
reflective activities both as whole group discussions and in writing. Many of
my students said the most important thing they learned in Kindergarten was how
to be kind. One of mine said the thing she will remember is our class family.
#winning
The last day of school really brought it all full circle. During
the last five minutes, I had my students sit in a circle and share their final
thoughts. My last kiddo to share asked everyone to stand up and hold hands. She
then looked at all of them and said, “I love everyone in this class family
because you showed me how to be kind.” *cue the water works
Finally, allow me to share with you some lessons learned and
main take-aways from this year.
1.
Never take 17 Kindergarteners outside to fly
their own kites all by yourself. Kite flying is great, but there needs to be
more than 1 adult supervising, assisting, and untangling.
2.
Kids are capable of way more than what we
(adults) give them credit for. Let them try. Mistakes are proof they are
learning!
3.
Children are more forgiving and show more grace
than the average adult.
4.
To see life through a child’s eyes is a
remarkable experience.
5.
Love them all the time.
6.
Say yes as much as possible.
7.
If you create a classroom environment based on
mutual respect, kids will open up and share.
8.
Kids LOVE it when adults sing, dance, and act
goofy from time to time. It helps them feel more comfortable to be themselves
and builds trust.
Every time I look back on this first year, I am overwhelmed
with joy and pride. I will be forever thankful that I got to call those kids mine.
And that’s a wrap on year 1! Stay tuned for the happenings
of 4th Grade this Fall!
Yours Truly,
Steph
