An unexpected blessing

Did you know that 26 eleven year olds could teach you so much?

I didn't.

Did I think that my sassiest little girl would end up being my favorite?

Nope.

Did I think that my most defiant and snarky boy would respect me?

Never.

Did I think I would love teaching reading?

Absolutely not.

But all of these things came true.

Story 1:
I walked in on my first day and saw a little blonde fashion diva sitting in the corner with this sassy look on her face refusing to respond to anything my teacher was saying. I knew I had my work cut out for me with that one. The look she was giving my teacher was the exact look I gave my mom 10 years ago (sorry mom). I tried not to judge her from day one but that was rather difficult to do. She was a stinker (to put it nicely).
The next day, it was my turn to teach. She was challenging me with her faces and lack of participation. I asked a question and the same 5 students raised their hands...I waited (wait times important) and still no other takers so I called on one of those five afraid to look stupid. I asked another question, again, the same 5 hands. I asked for other volunteers. Her hand sheepishly went up.
She answered.
She was correct.
She smiled.
The next day she came in, put her stuff down, looked at the board, followed the directions and even collected the books at the end of the period.
The following day, she came in and instead of going straight to her seat, she came over to tell me a story.
I smiled.
Over the next few weeks, I made it a point to talk to her before and after class.
On Wednesday she came up to me and said "Good morning Miss McCallister, did you know it's national Vans day?"
I looked down at her hot pink pair of Vans and shook my head no.
I didn't even know there was such a day.
Turns out, her and I have a lot in common at age 11.
Who knew she would end up being one of my favorites?

Story 2:
There's always that one student that never turns anything in on time and if they do turn things in on time, it's never completed. The work is always rushed and poorly done because the goal is to just finish it, not to learn.
I remember doing similar things in reading class.
One day I decided to try small group reading and while I met with the different groups, the other students were supposed to be working on their Camp Green Lake brochures.
This process took two days which meant they had two days to complete this project in class.
I gave them a rubric to follow as well as an example I had done.
When it came time for them to be due, I was missing one.
Of course.
The next day I asked this student if he had his brochure.
He said no...
Points were deducted.
The following day I asked him if he had his brochure.
This time he said he just forgot it at home.
More points were deducted.
Three days later, he walks into class announcing "I HAVE MY BROCHURE"
Thank you for making that public announcement.
I take it from him, grade it.
He fails the assignment.
This is a repeated pattern.
Finally, one day, I walked over to him because he was not on task and I told him if he did not complete what he was working on in class it was for homework.
He nodded.
I asked him if he wrote it down in his agenda.
He shook his head no.
I told him to write it down.
He wrote it.
The next day he came into class announcing "MISS MCCALLISTER I DID MY HOMEWORK!"
Again, thank you for that making sure the entire middle school heard you.
He hasn't turned in one late assignment to me since.
I talk to him before class about what he's reading and he tells me in detail the entire story.
He raises his hand when I ask questions.
He smiles at me when I look at him instead of giving me the death glare (that's a plus).
He even offers to help me collect the books and pick up the classroom.
Who knew one conversation could cause such a behavior change?

Story 3:
I'm a math person.
I always have been.
My brain is very linear and I have never been very good at thinking abstractly.
I knew this field experience was going to be a challenge because I did not feel competent in the subject.
Want to know something funny?
My supervisor gave me the highest score on content knowledge. She says I know my stuff.
I laughed a little.
I definitely don't feel like I do.
At least she was encouraging.
I discovered I would love to teach reading. Not grammar, not language arts, just reading.
I love to incorporate creativity, drawing, games, writing, and laughter into my lessons.
The laughter is usually due to my mistakes but at least we can all laugh about it together.
You have to learn to laugh at yourself.
Like on Tuesday, we were completing an ABC character analysis for the main character in Holes.
We got to the letter J and I was drawing a blank so I asked the students if they had any ideas.
A student raised his hand and said juvenile.
Great.
How do you spell that? 
I've learned that i'm a horrible speller, well I've known that, but it's tripled when you're facing 26 students and they expect you to know everything.
My mind went completely blank.
So I smiled and said "that's a great word to describe him, can you spell that for me?"
Phew, great cover up, two lessons in one, character description and spelling.
My supervisor enjoyed that story in my reflection after the lesson.

This week has just confirmed that this is what I want to be doing with my life.
I teach because I love the students and I care about their learning.
I teach because they make me smile and laugh every single day.
I teach because if I can show them Christ's love then that's the greatest lesson I can teach them.

I'm going to miss these 26 silly sixth graders.

Melanie

Miss McCallister

About two weeks ago I started teaching reading at Rockway Middle School.

I have 26 sixth graders.

I love it!

But it didn't start out that way.

I went into this semester hesitant with my major and wondering if I actually wanted to teach.
I have many dreams and I feared my major would not take me where I want to go.
I began questioning if I should change my major or just graduate
You only have one more year.

I prayed a lot about it and everyone told me to just hold on.

So I held on.

Yesterday, after being back with my students from spring break, I felt content.
I knew I was exactly where I was supposed to be and I was excited.

We are reading the book Holes.
And I am having so much fun with it.

Today, I asked them to journal about a quote that one of the counselors says to Stanley (the main character).
Mr. Pendanski says "you may have done some bad things, but that doesn't mean you're a bad kid"
I asked them to explain if they agreed or disagreed with this statement.

I never expected the responses I got.

Their writing screams redemption.
It's beautiful.

Here's some examples:

        "There are ups and downs to life"

        "No one can be exactly perfect"

        "Say your sorry and forgive"

        "Everyone has done something bad in their lifetime"

        "Everybody screws up in life, nobody's perfect"

And my favorite, I jumped when I read this one:

        "Jesus is always willing to welcome you back as one of his children"

You can bet I put a smiley next to that sentence!

I also gave everyone a check plus when I graded these. I was so pumped that some of them GET IT!

I'm learning that it's not about being good at the subject you are teaching it's about knowing how to teach and being good at teaching.

It was a happy day :)

Melanie