Sometimes things click...

Sometimes things click.  Sometimes my class and I are spot on.  Everyone is focused, the message and the meaning are ripe, and the fruit is falling off the tree.  My students are eating it up. 

Funny thing is, these moments don’t usually occur during group work, independent projects, or lessons designed with multiple intelligences in mind.  They usually take place with me up in front of the classroom, and the kids at their desks facing me.  

The bell rings, and my students pick up their bags and head out the door.   I can almost see the thought-bubbles rising up and disintegrating over their heads.   A few kids smile and one or two might tell me how fun class was today.  But still, ‘poof’, ‘poof’, ‘poof’ go the pregnant thoughts in their brains.  They’re on to hallway relationships, unfinished homework, and the next teacher’s attempts to captivate their minds. 

It would have been one of those days in which I wondered about my own effectiveness as a teacher in spite of my passion.  But in my hands are pieces of paper that the students handed me as they left class.  It’s them, writing -   Questions.  Connections.  Ideas.  Thoughts about ways to solve the problems posed in my story.  Sometimes heartfelt responses, some brief, some organized, some with doodles.   These writings are professionally precious to me. With them I can gauge the understanding of my students, and shape the course of future lessons.  I can see who just needs the go-ahead to pursue a fantastic and unique project, who needs some reinforcement in order to grasp the concepts we’re getting at, and who has their own story to tell. 

This is one reason why my students write in class.   I value students writing not for preparation on a standardized test, but as a means of listening to and responding to them.  The conversation continues.