My mom has been a first or third grade teacher for my entire life; it is what I have always known her to be. She speaks highly of her students, and I can tell her time with them is precious. Growing up, my brother, sister, and I "graduated" each year, advanced to the next grade, while my mom always remained the "same age." We used to always joke with her and say that she flunked yet another year.
I flunked a few grades today. I spent some time in my mom's third grade classroom, listening and observing their silly comments and often ridiculous actions. After being in a secondary school environment for so long, there were some obvious changes.
For one, these people are little. I realize that this is quite obvious, but really, they are small. Their chairs are puny; the bathrooms are teeny-tiny. Their little shoes that are always untied are the size of my hand. It is so crazy to think that we were all that small at one point in time.
The noise is a different kind of noise. There is never a complete silence.... ever. I do not like when students talk out of turn or have what I call "word vomit," but this is inevitable in an elementary school. At one point, my mom had the kids play "Jolly Old Saint Nicolas" on their recorders. Thanks Mom, but I could have gone without the squeaking and squealing of these cheap instruments.
At any rate, it was fun to see the environment my mom is a part of each day. I now have faces to all of the names of her students. I enjoy the thirst for learning that these little guys have; if only we could continue this throughout our lifetimes. I have to say, I'm quite glad that I flunked today.
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