Out with the Old, in with the New

Last school year began and it was the most low key and lackluster of my career. There were lots of reasons for this which I will not go into here. The year did not begin to turn around until well after Christmas. But when it did . . .

I did even more hands- on experiments (links will be here later) and gained new momentum with classroom management which had never been my strong suit. I usually keep class interesting enough and crowd control took care of itself. Not with this group.

At the end of the year four students among several others showed me how far we had come.

The first was getting ready to go for the last time and other students were peeking in my classroom to see what was going on (not unusual). She blurted out (also not unusual), “You need to take Mr. Banks class! It is fun, but you are going to have to work.” That is one of the descriptions of my class for which I have always longed.

Another student surprised me the day after my return from my father’s funeral. I decided I wanted to honor my dad and to help students deal with the death of a loved one. My sister prepared a slide show of highlights of my dad’s life and ended with his prayer for meals that I had recorded on my last visit with him. (I also prepared a blog in his memory.) I asked the students to write a letter to someone special and give it to them. I did not read any of them I wanted them to say just what they wanted to say without reservation or evaluation. It was amazing how much time some to them spent. 

And then there was the football player. We wrestled all year long with his paying attention and with his not disrupting class. After much struggle it got better. How much was revealed on the last day of class. The lineman that out hulked me by several inches in all directions said, “Mr. B, I want a hug.”  In shock I gave him kind of a sissy hug – I really did not know what to do. He repeated, “Mr. B, I want a hug!” Then he proceeded to squeeze the blood out of me. I will be his biggest supporter when he plays on Sunday one day.

A third student prepared a video for his final physics project. I knew he was very intelligent and talented. This showed me just how much.

At the end of the writing time a student came up to me and handed me her letter.

Wow. I had no idea.

With these four send offs from last year and 22 full days of professional development this summer, I am ready for the students to bring it on. I have my A game. I hope they have theirs.