I feel that I should somehow record the stress and exhaustion that life has been, but I don't know how to do that while also adding the joy and richness of living.
Every time a child learns to read - when they understand that the squiggles on the page mean something and they can figure it out - every time I see it happen, I want to sing and dance.
When my students try to outwit me or have a snappy comeback, but I have an answer ready because this isn't my first group of sassy students, but they look shocked and surprised that I have a ready wit, I want to laugh.
There are times when a student finally turns in an overdue assignment that they have been telling me is too hard, then says, "That was actually easy." And I smile and want to say, "I know," but instead I say, "Thank you. I'm really proud of you for pushing through this assignment."
Grading anything both delights and discourages me. There are student who turn in great work - sometimes because the subject comes naturally to them, sometimes because they worked hard. And there are students who are so smart, but won't let it show on the test and do as little work as possible, so they are failing and feel dumb. And I give them more and more opportunities to show me that they know what they say they know, but they won't take them.
