One Big Gratitude

I just have one big gratitude today. Mr. C., at the age of ten, has had a rough life. And I quite often feel like he's set up for failure, since he has learning issues AND is a perfectionist. Its hard to be perfect when you can't read, right?!? So today, we did everything right. We gave choices before any work or criticism was presented. Finished some tests, got stuff done, had some fun, and he didn't get ticked off. He was taking his science test, and he thought about a question he'd answered, erased what he'd marked, and picked again. The second answer was the right one. Is it cheating for me to beam at him and say, "Good job- way to think it through!"? I don't think so. So after saying good job, I looked at him and said, "Tonight, at 8pm, when I've been here forever and am tired and grumpy, I'm going to remember how happy I am right now. I'm going to smile, because you thought it through and fixed that problem." And he smiled at me.

THAT is why I do this job. A coworker asked me how I can stand to work with the lowest levels of students all the time. I feel like, between the learning issues and behavior issues, that I have a greater impact on these students than I would on kids who could learn no matter what. Yesterday I hated my job. Today, I loved it.