Fire Drill
My Job Rocks!I love my job. I am telling you that this is what I was made to do. It is fabulous! I have awesome students. Let the bragging begin.The entire class is just filled with sweet, sweet children. They are considerate: they open doors without being told, they look you in the eye when you are speaking to them, they use manners, they give hugs, and they try so hard to please me. They are sensitive: one look can silence them, one smile can make them laugh, a pat on the back will motivate them, a word of encouragement cheers them up and a game will make their day. I have never felt so appreciated in my life. I want to make this the best year ever for them. I love giving them gifts just to see them get so excited about the littlest priveldge.
Today we had a fire drill with the fire chief (that's a big deal in the world of elementary school). We have been talking about procedures and expectations for such a drill for the past couple of days. I couldn't have imagined that things would go so smoothly. They knew right what they were supposed to do and did it flawlessly, quickly, and seriously (which is exactly what I wanted them to do I just wasn't so sure that I would get those results). It was amazing; I couldn't stop complimenting them: and they deserved every word. As other teachers were frantically grabbing shirt collars, yelling commands, and trying to corral tumbling, yelling chaos into order... I sat on the grass with my students circled around me telling stories, solving minute mysteries and having a mini-lesson on the insects that we found all around us. It was literally a mini-miracle. My head teacher recognized us and asked me in hushed tones, "How in the world did you do that?" I told her to ask one of my students.
"Which one?"
"Any of them."
She looked doubtful as she walked away. I shrugged it off and thought that she didn't trust my students the way that I did. But she surprised me that afternoon by popping in unannounced and asking my class how they thought they did on the fire drill. All faces grinning they said they knew they did well because I had told them that I was proud. It's about procedure, but more importantly it's about getting your students to want to do it your way. I don't know how I got so fortunate to have such an eager group. She asked them how they knew exactly what to do. As soon as the question was asked, hands shot up around the room.
"we knew what we had to do, we talk about it until everyone understands"
"we wanted to do our best"
"slow obedience is no obedience" *laughter* (I say that ALL the time ...and it is true each and every time I say it!)
"we wanted Miss A to be happy"
"she gets so excited when we do it just like she says and that makes me feel excited too"
And that is just how all of my days have been.
posted by Trisha @ 5:40 PM
