Who knew I would like 1st graders?

I have been volunteering in a local 1st grade classroom once a week for the last couple of months. I run a weekly "science club" for the girls in two classes, while the boys have their club with male mentors in an adjacent room. I have to admit that I was not really all that into it at first. These kids are so young that it really felt more like babysitting than teaching. Also, a few of the girls are very clingy, and I just don't have the patience for that. The last two weeks I started to have a change of heart. I think part of it was learning how to keep the attention of a 7 year old, and part was my allowing myself to be a bit more enthusiastic. I remember one day walking over telling myself that I was going to enjoy it this time, and it worked. Anyhow, today was our last meeting, and I realized that I had gotten through to them. I had come up with some questions based on what we had been doing that I was going to make a game out of. I fully expected to have to lead them to the answers. Many of the questions were about vocabulary words I had mentioned a few times, and some were more abstract questions trying to get to the point of the experiments we had been doing. I was so impressed because not only were the girls attentive and not calling out (I told them I got points when they called out, and they got points when anyone got a question right) the got probably 85% of the questions correct on the first or second try! It was a very tangible way of showing them (and me) that they had learned a lot. Even better was the enthusiasm they showed when I asked them if they thought science was cool... all hands shot up and the squirms were basically uncontrollable. It was completely adorable. I realized that I haven't been wasting my time, and that some of these girls might actually benefit from being introduced to science in a fun way at such a young age. The dry ice fog was just the icing on the cake that made it a really great end to the semester. Part of me is worried that I really don't have time to volunteer, and that I should wait until I get more settled into grad school. However, when I think about it, I'm not sure I'll ever be less busy, and if outreach/teaching/volunteering is important to me I need to make it a priority starting now!

fun found file

I found this today while going through old files looking for something. It is clearly out of season, but since I have been missing teaching this week it is appropriate. Just a bit of background... the school where I used to teach had chapel twice a week for the middle school. Teachers were required to be there. This was my least favorite part of the job, but it really wasn't all that bad... usually.

A beautiful moment (winter 07?)

As the chapel doors opened out to the main green after the service today, one of the most wonderful moments of my thus far very short teaching career occurred. There door I was looking through framed the lit Christmas tree, and as the chilly air rushed in, we all saw the first snow flurries swirling around the tree. This was accompanied by the excited gasps of about 250 thrilled young men all in unison while trying to maintain the composure required of chapel. The older ones forgot for a second that they are no longer little boys. I hate to admit it but I almost teared up. Maybe it was because a teacher had just finished talking about his son who passed away 10 years ago. There was just something about the tangible kid energy and the visual expression of innocence and enthusiasm that really was beautiful. A colleague also noticed this, and said that it was a moment you would never experience if you weren’t a teacher, and that you couldn’t really explain it. I guess this was my attempt.