The Things We Learn When We Least Expect It
A colleague stopped in tonight as I was finishing up with my after school writing club (4th and 5th graders writing scripts for the drama club). She had read my article in Choice Literacy about the teacher writing group and shared that she had an “aha” moment. She explained that she hadn’t come to our January meeting because she was feeling poorly about her writing that we did in December. After reading the article and realizing that she wants and needs that writing community, she realized that many of her students must feel the same way. You know the ones…they have to go to the bathroom 2 minutes after writing workshop begins or they wander around the classroom library for way too many minutes looking for a “just right” book when they should be reading (or writing, or doing math…it doesn’t matter. If it’s hard, they want/need a break). It gave her a whole new perspective on many of her students.
That’s one of the best parts of the teacher writing group. We are learning, without realizing it, the frustration as well as the joys our students go through each and every day in our classrooms. I believe it is this knowledge that makes us better teachers. We are also there to support each other through the ups and downs in this crazy, yet wonderful profession. Learning together and leaning on each other is what it’s all about. My friend said that the article gave her just what she needed today. She’ll be back for the next meeting, ready to go!
So, the next time one of your little (or not so little) guys has to leave the room when the work gets to be a bit much, it might just be that he needs a little break to regroup. And that’s OK! We all need that sometimes!
