A Happy Thought

Things have been super crazy!  Prom was last week, the end of the year is approaching, and my to-do list gets longer and longer no matter how much I seem to check off it.  I am sure many teachers are in the same boat!  I have just been so caught up in everything, I have not taken much of a break lately.  But here I am now.

I wanted to share something pretty awesome that happened in my third hour today.  I have been having so much fun this trimester with this funny, insightful, hard working group.  While I strive to build up the reading community in all my classes, this one has really been thriving lately.  I book talk a book and it does not make it to the next class.  I have waiting lists for books.  When a student forgets the book he or she is reading at home, there is no fight and they browse for another.  We have just really been clicking.

One student has been reading The Fault in Our Stars since the start of the trimester.  A few other students, one girl in particular, have already read the book.  We have all talked about it a lot these last few weeks.  I have shared the trailers with this group and talked about the excitement for the movie.  I have checked in with the student who is reading it many times and she has just promoted this book weekly.

Well, she finished the book today.  She proudly told me and again reiterated how much she loved it.  I told her how happy I was that she liked it and asked her for the book.  Students were packing up and getting ready for the bell.  I raised the book up and said, “I just got The Fault in Our Stars back and does…”

Before I could even finish that statement, another student yelled, “ME!” and ran up to get it.  I handed it right off to her.  This girl giggled with glee, I am not even exaggerating in that statement.  I wish I had my camera on me to capture the pure joy on her face that she was going to be able to read it now.  It really made my day to see how happy and excited she felt.

I can feel very overwhelmed with the state of education right now.  There is a lot of pressure on teachers and our workload seems never ending.  But when moments like this happen, it makes it all worth it.  These moments are what carry me through and remind me that this is what I love to do.