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Sunday, May 29, 2011
What will they remember?
On Friday, I shadowed an administrator at a middle school as part of my internship for my principal's certification. It was an eye opening experience at all levels, however I learned something that I had not expected to learn...
Having taught elementary students for the past eight years in the same district, I was hoping that I would see some familiar faces throughout the day. I really wasn't prepared to see how much my former students had changed. Students can change a lot in just one year.
I honestly did not even recognize many of them as they excitedly asked, "Mrs. Kruse - remember me?" I was amazed at how much students can change in 4 or 5 years. During the afternoon, we moved into the lunchroom to supervise students. One by one, my former students gathered around me voicing the same question each time, "Mrs. Kruse - remember me?" Students asked me, "Hey, do you remember when ....?" or "I remember...." Suddenly I had a rather large group of eighth graders circling up and reminiscing about their third grade class five years ago. We smiled and laughed as we recalled events from that year.
As I reflected on this experience, and thought about this year coming to the end in just a few days , I began to wonder:
1. What will my students remember most from the 1,080 hours that we spend together in a given year?
2. What will I remember the most about them?
I found that what these students remembered the most were the every day experiences we had together - the field trips we took, favorite games and activities we played during Morning Meetings each day, our class pet - 'Willis' the hamster, etc. - the things that made our class a true community. A sense of community is something that I work hard to create with each and every class every year and that is what students truly remember.
Having taught elementary students for the past eight years in the same district, I was hoping that I would see some familiar faces throughout the day. I really wasn't prepared to see how much my former students had changed. Students can change a lot in just one year.
I honestly did not even recognize many of them as they excitedly asked, "Mrs. Kruse - remember me?" I was amazed at how much students can change in 4 or 5 years. During the afternoon, we moved into the lunchroom to supervise students. One by one, my former students gathered around me voicing the same question each time, "Mrs. Kruse - remember me?" Students asked me, "Hey, do you remember when ....?" or "I remember...." Suddenly I had a rather large group of eighth graders circling up and reminiscing about their third grade class five years ago. We smiled and laughed as we recalled events from that year.
As I reflected on this experience, and thought about this year coming to the end in just a few days , I began to wonder:
1. What will my students remember most from the 1,080 hours that we spend together in a given year?
2. What will I remember the most about them?
I found that what these students remembered the most were the every day experiences we had together - the field trips we took, favorite games and activities we played during Morning Meetings each day, our class pet - 'Willis' the hamster, etc. - the things that made our class a true community. A sense of community is something that I work hard to create with each and every class every year and that is what students truly remember.
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