Tuesday, May 20, 2014

"It takes all kinds of kinds."

I love being a teacher. I love helping kids finally "get" a math concept, helping them develop a love of reading, challenging them to be more descriptive writers, and guiding them in exploring science concepts.  Ensuring that my students do their best to reach their academic potential is my job.  The most rewarding part of my job, however, is having the privilege to witness children showing genuine and heartfelt kindness toward each other for no reason other than making someone's day a little bit easier. We have had many conversations about acceptance and respect for others in our classroom. The children in our class speak about these concepts with a maturity and understanding that some adults fail to display. We have a class saying that we "borrowed" from a Miranda Lambert song. There is a poster that says "It takes all kinds of kinds"  hanging in the front of our classroom as a daily reminder. Yesterday, Bella came in and said hello then handed me a card. She had written a beautiful note about things she has learned this year about accepting others. She then shared that she designed a t-shirt for our whole class so that everyone can remember the lessons they've learned about treating others kindly. It was so fun to wear these shirts as a class today and spread our motto around the school. I can't think of a better concept to advertise. Thank you to Bella and her family for this thoughtful and generous gesture! 
We will cherish these for years to come.