Why I Love Teaching

This right here, in a nutshell tells the story of why I love teaching.  Who wouldn't want to get a smiling head-heart card like this?  

I just melts me.  

And then, as if the heart - head wasn't enough there are WORDS!!  Written by one of my precious students who has a huge struggle with letters and the sounds they make.  

Even the fact that there is only one word misspelled - in such a typical dyslexic fashion - helper spelled heprl, gives insight as to how these kids hear words and then try to get them onto paper.  

We made big progress together this year.  

She taught me so much about remembering there is a sensitive soul behind that struggle.

And I taught her some tricks to help her read better.

And she even mentioned the jelly beans!!  They are a huge part of my reading program.  

Generally the students are only to get 2 of them after every session but we make a BIG DEAL out of those two beans. 

And the prizes?  

In this case they were absolutely essential.

I almost lost this student at one point and I had to scramble hard and fast to find out what would motivate her.  

Not just the run of the mill average prizes we give out when the student reaches the end of a book, but special prizes that looked like this...

And to top it all off, there was this fabulous piece of artwork that I just love.  Our combined excitement and the fact that she attempted to draw me in the wheelchair.  

And it appears I am exceedingly slender.

What joy!