sol17 #26: three sizes

If you're a teacher like me, you've had more than your fair share of bad days. But that's not what this post is about.

This post is about those moments when, like the Grinch, your heart grows three sizes.

Case in point #1:
I was sitting and conferring with a writer when I looked up and across the room. I saw two of the girls in my class working together. This was a few weeks ago, and so I don't remember what we were working on exactly, but what I saw was one of them coaching another one on the thing. It may have been introductions or conclusions for our Argument paper. Even from a distance, I could tell that one was most certainly teaching the other how to do it better.

And my heart grew.

Case in point #2:
There I was, again, sitting at my conferring table, and I looked up and saw this:

The one was just this week. We're in our Holocaust unit, and the kids were reading picture books together to review plot and theme, and also identify the bystanders, upstanders, perpetrators, and victims in the mess.

On one hand, it's not that special, since I told them to do it, but on the other it so is. They are reading a book, read aloud style, as if I were to the whole class. Totally engaged, helping each other, participating. And enjoying their work.

And my heart grew.

Case in point #3:

Yesterday, I handed back a third draft of reports to my 8th graders. I do not write on final copies, but I totally do on their drafts, it's a written way to do feedback with kids, plus, I never want to wait until the final draft to be the first time I look through their work.

And so, when I looked up, I saw a few kids talking about the revisions and edits they were going to make, showing their drafts to one another, marking them up with tracks of their learning.

And my heart grew.

When did your heart grow this last week?

Check out the padlet for ideas or leave a comment for another blogger!

Want another idea? How about a color poem? Check out this link for an example!