A PROUD teaching moment!

Today was my first PROUD teaching moment! In my afternoon, 2:30-4pm elementary class, I have two male students who often make class a little more stressful for Christine teacher. Both are extremely bright and always do their homework. However, their behavior in class is often frustrating for me and their classmates: constantly touching other students, lots of put-downs, lack of attention, taking several times of me asking them to get work out, losing their place when reading as a class...and the list goes on.

Each week, students have a three paragraph essay to write based on a topic we brainstorm in class. Last week they had to interview a family member and write their essay about that person. Part of the assignment is memorizing the essay to present for the class. If they complete the memorization, they receive ten extra reward stickers, which ultimately mean nothing, but make the students go crazy for more! On Monday, I had already hit my "angry point" with Seth. I walked in the classroom and the first thing he said was, "Teacher, you are UGLY today." Really?! His mom got a phone call yesterday.

Today however, he brought tears to my eyes (seriously). Only one student had memorized their entire essay. None of my best students had even attempted to memorize anything past their first sentence. When I asked who had their essay ready to present, Seth practically jumped out of his seat he was so excited. I thought for sure he was joking as he often does. I was SO wrong. He got up in front of the entire class and as I held his essay in my hand to follow along, he recited word for word, all but one sentence of his assignment. My jaw dropped when he finished, and I gave him the biggest high five he's probably ever had as I told him how PROUD of was of his hard work! He did such a good job, and we both knew it. While Seth frustrates me more than anyone in the class on a regular basis, he is SO hard not to like. I sit next to him when we do class work, so he can't bother the other students, and he constantly rubs my legs and arms and rests his head on my shoulder. I've certainly learned...you've just got to accept the bad with the good! :)