I finally get it...

For the longest time I have wondered why teachers want to teach and why they like it so much (ok, I realize that there are some teachers who don't like it, but let's leave them out for argument's sake). Anyways, my first week of teaching I wondered why the heck I even wanted teach and why it seemed like a good idea. Trying to control four year olds who don't even really know english, how was that a good idea? Well, I think I am finally realizing why... the joy that they have.

There is this boy in my class whose name is Luke. He is super cute but really hyper and does not listen. I tell him to sit and he doesn't. I move his chair to the back and he doesn't care so I move him to the front of the room and he sits (thank God) but he scoots his chair around and is just a bigger distraction. I keep him after class to talk to him, but he doesn't understand so I feel like the teacher on Charlie Brown who speaks but the words just come out as noises. So, I decided to talk to his Chinese teacher so that she can talk to him (at least she knows Chinese) and I find out that even in Chinese class he misbehaves (I was relieved to know that is wasn't just me). Anyways,I realized that disciplining is not really going to work, so I decided to just keep him involved. On Wednesday he was a lot better (not perfect,but who is) so I gave him a sticker. He came for class in the afternoon and he was so much better.

Well, I talked to his teacher to tell her how good he was and she told me that in the morning he showed her the sticker so she gave him a big hug and that even in Chinese class he was better. It amazed me that all it really took was one simple sticker for him to be better. Seeing Luke change in such a short time made me realize that I can have an impact on these children.

There are countless other stories of my kids and how in just two weeks I already have so much love for them. At times they drive me up the wall, but they are teaching me so much. They are teaching me about the little joys in life. They are teaching me that even a sticker can be the biggest reward. They are teaching me how to be a kid again. They are teaching me about patience and understanding. They are teaching me that there is so much in life to learn. They are teaching that it is fun to run around and scream with laughter. They are teaching me that it is ok to to dance crazy and sing with a bad voice and color outside the lines...

And I realize that this is why teachers love to teach, because not only do you get to impact others but you get to have others impact you in ways never thought possible. And so here are some pics of my kids... some are of them running and sleeping, no, they ARE NOT falling asleep in my class (althought this boy Danny thinks it is funny to pretend that he is sleeping) in a song that we do and the others are of them coloring.