Crayons in the Box

I rarely write about teaching.  This has been my escape from all reality, but I just have to tell you about today and this lesson.

We are having a Socratic Seminar on Diversity after reading an article about the soccer team in Georgia called The Fugees.  They are refugee boys who play together like brothers with a tough but caring woman coach. 

Each class has its own distinct personality every day.  They are like an enormous box of crayons...so many colors, so many quirks.

My first class is gifted and talented and heavy on the boys.  My 3rd period is 12 pre-AP girls.  My 5th period is my largest, and they frequently test my patience with their chattiness.  The ones who usually have the most to say in an off task way are suddenly unable or unwilling to speak until they find just the right question to respond to. 

And today they have opened my eyes and each others' in ways that ordinarily don't come up in regular conversation. 

They all have had mature insights about what it's like to live in a very diverse neighborhood.  They have shared personal experiences that I might never otherwise hear about.  And whenever I have tried Socratic Seminar, they are the most respectful of each other than any other time.  They are at an age where being heard by their peers and adults is more valuable than anything else and I think that makes an enormous difference.  They realize they all have something valuable to contribute.  That is priceless learning.  And I am honored to have been a part of it. 

I have this warm, fuzzy feeling that I can't really describe.  I feel in awe of my students today.  And grateful that I have the kind of job that allows me to glimpse the people they really will eventually grow into, and I will go back to this moment tomorrow when they are testing my patience again. 

I hope you all are blessed with a job as cool as mine.