Today

Today, I am a proud teacher. I should be a proud teacher every day, so I will say that I am an especially proud teacher today. My students just really made my day with the things they did today. One class almost made me tear up (good tears). So, keep on reading if you want to know what the excitement is all about!
The boys in my first class made me cheese. It was an excellent way to start my day. My co-teacher added a new activity to their daily routine. Every day before class starts, the English class leader will come up to the computer and play a short story for the class. They listen to the story. Then, they hear the story in a chant/rap version and the students are supposed to follow along. The point is to practice their speaking. The story we started with is really, really easy for my 6th graders. To spice the chant up, the boys in the class started to shout "hey" after each line. Some of them even raise their arms with each "Hey!" The first time we read the story, only a couple of the boys shouted, "Hey!" My co-teachers gave them stickers to encourage them. This time, all of the boys shouted, "Hey!" She asked the students to raise their hands if they shouted, "Hey!" Then, she asked them if they had done it in hopes of getting something....All of the boys looked at us with hopeful smiles. Man, if it was me, the owners of those cute smiles would have all gotten stickers!! But no stickers were given out today...I think I was more disappointed than the boys.
In my next class, I have a male student who I'm training.... to bring his pencil (umm..this is one of my 6th graders). The first time he brought his pencil without me forcing him to go back to his homeroom to get it, I sneaked him a sticker. He didn't bring it the next time, but these days, he's been bringing it to every class! And on top of that, he volunteered today! It made me the happiest/ proudest teacher to call on his raised arm.
We'll skip over my next class because they were just rowdy. Period
In my last 6th grade class, I got the cherry on top of my wonderful ice-cream sundae. My co-teacher played a rock, paper, scissor game with the whole class. It was her against the whole class, and the students had to sit down as they lost. Pretty soon, there were only two boys left standing. One of the boys standing has minor mental retardation. (He stays with his class for all subjects, but also takes Special Ed. classes.) All of his classmates started cheering for him: "Minchul, you have to win!" "Go, Minchul!" I almost got teary. It was a heart-melting sight. Even during the game, I had noticed that his tablemates were helping him. He was going to sit down because he didn't want to stand awkwardly, but his tablemates told him that it was okay for him to stay standing.
Heart warming goodness! I love days like today.