My Kindergarten teacher asked me if I was interested in taking one of the students around for a project that she is doing with all of the students in her class where the “Dragons Backpack” from our school goes on adventures. I enthusiastically said yes as I have been bombarded with paperwork and finishing up things for the school year. So at about 1:30 today, I got to walk around with an awesome Kindergarten student (Ethan) and followed his lead. The first thing that he asked me was, “Where do you want to go?”, and I told him wherever he wanted to take me.
As he toured me around the school, he decided that he wanted to show me some of the teachers that had impacted him during his short time at school. Just listening to him and saying how much he liked his teachers was inspiring to me as I know we have such a special group at our school. I asked him what he liked so much about his teachers, and he just kept said that they were ‘fun’ and so ‘nice’.
Ethan showed me around some of his favourite places at school, including the playground, gym, and the library. Although he was very interested in taking a book and checking out a book, I was touched when he asked if I would read a book to him. Reading the book, “I Love You Forever” by Robert Munsch (which brought me to tears with such a touching story of a mother and son) reminded me a lot of how much an influence my mom has been on me (I called her right after).
At the end of the tour, Ethan thanked me for a great visit although I was the one who was really grateful. These moments away from the paperwork and administrative duties are things that I appreciate and it was fantastic to connect with an individual student.
Here is what Ethan reaffirmed to me today:
- I need to get out of my office as much as I can and connect with kids. Yes there are other things that I need to do, but there is nothing MORE important. They always remind me why I do what I do, and only make me work harder to do better.
- When we let kids take the lead, not do they only show us that they can do amazing things, but they inspire us. We need to give them the lead more.
- At school, we can have the best day, everyday, if we are open to it. Although teachers have an extremely tough job, we also have the best job because we get to work with amazing kids everyday. Let them inspire you.
Thanks for the tour today buddy! I learned a lot 🙂
