ELA Teacher
Hand Middle School
Contact Mrs. Schell at helen.schell@richlandone.org
The first several weeks of school, while often epic and
discombobulating for my new-to-Hand sixth grade students, are days that I
treasure. There’s electricity in the hallways that follows the students into my
room, crackling and snapping from their heels as they locate their seats and
smile at their neighbors. In a way, it’s like I am waking up each morning to some
grand holiday or my birthday, and the presents I am receiving are the
students. On Monday I unwrap seven or
eight, on Tuesday another eleven, on Wednesday six more, until I’ve unwrapped
every single child and am left to marvel at his and her talents. The same is true for my students; they are
busy unwrapping one another, finding out about each amazing person who is sitting
beside them or is grouped with them for certain activities. There are so many
smiles and laughs as we celebrate the new community we are building.
Toward this goal, I recently had my students grouped into
“neighborhoods” for an activity in which they wrote answers to four questions
and then took their time sharing responses. As a result, my young people
learned about each other’s embarrassing moments, favorite technologies, good
habits, and kind memories they harbored of former teachers. At the end of class
I collected their response cards and took them home to read after dinner. I was
transported. Their reflections were both humorous and powerful, and I found myself
being especially moved by their memories of former teachers.
In this category, loving acts were recorded that painted a picture of
daily life with all its trials and triumphs. One student appreciated a teacher
reimbursing him a coin from her purse when the pencil machine ate his quarter. Another
received photos at her fifth grade graduation that the teacher had saved since
kindergarten. A different student was told to climb the jungle gym knowing he
would be caught if he fell. On and on my students wrote: I was taught how to
create the art that I love; I was given the job of taking care of the class
pets; I was defended when my classmates bullied me for being short; I was seen
for being musically talented and encouraged to become a singer; I was given a
second chance; I was pulled aside and comforted when I had a really bad day; I
was so good at history that my notes were used to create the class study guide;
I was called smart; I was given a tie-dye shirt made by my classmates when I
moved to SC; I was understood and forgiven.
When I set the cards down I felt humbled, humbled that they would share
these treasures with me and humbled by the role of teacher. In the twenty-first
century, data plays a starring role in a teacher’s life. August is when we analyze
data on end-of-year testing to get a snapshot of our incoming students. This
allows us to shore up a class’s strengths and weaknesses and set goals for the
year ahead. Each one of us wants to build on the strong foundation laid by
previous teachers and propel our students into new realms of thought and
comprehension. We are intimately aware that our efforts feed future successes
in high school, college, the job market, and our students’ waiting adult lives.
But for just a moment I want to push all of those expectations and numeric data
aside and simply inhale the sweet fragrance of my students’ heart-felt note
cards. I want to sit still and absorb the gift that each child is. And if there
is one prayer on my lips, it is that I, too, will come to hold a sacred spot in
their hearts.
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