My Mantra: How Kindness Abounds in My Classroom
My mom has a mantra that I shared with one of my Theory of Knowledge classes recently: It’s nice to be important but it’s more important to be nice. She said that to me as often as she could when I was growing up. She still says it when I talk to her. My own children also know the motto; all I have to do is say, “Remember, it’s nice…” and they can finish the sentence. I’ve always been a person who tried to embody what that motto states. And the past month, I have witnessed this message in the actions of you, my students.
Recently, I challenged my Theory of Knowledge juniors and seniors to bring in Thanksgiving meals for local needy Hanover families. Because these classes have a community service component to them due to CAS (Creativity, Activity, Service), my vision was that classes would contribute 10 bags (meaning that ten families would have Thanksgiving dinner). Instead, the 55 students I teach brought in 71 bags of food. Each bag had an entire meal (minus the turkey) of food for a needy family. I was amazed at the kindness, generosity, and thoughtfulness of you, my students. You put the importance of others ahead of yourselves. When I told one of my friends what you had done, she asked if I bribed you with a grade for this. No. The only thing promised was breakfast for the winning class. Yet, I didn’t get 71 bags of food because of the free breakfast or because the seniors wanted to beat the juniors; I had 71 bags of food on the floor of my classroom because you understand kindness. For that, I am grateful.
My gratitude extends to my English classes as well. I recently finished grading your first analytical paper. If there’s one thing I love teaching--probably more than anything else--it’s teaching writing. I read in writer’s memos about how you struggled with writing this paper. Some of you feel like your writing is changing and developing. Many of you asked me questions as you are revising your work. As a teacher, nothing is more satisfying than watching students learn, and I am grateful every day I have the opportunity to witness this growth. I have seen students who struggled to write well as ninth graders construct beautiful sentences this year. I have heard students speak up in Socratic seminars who never would have done that freshman year when I was your teacher. I have witnessed your creativity recently as you made memes inspired by Their Eyes Were Watching God.
