I wasn’t actually tagged in this, but I think it’s a great idea, and I sometimes forget that I’m having an awesome day / week / etc just because a few rotten things happen. So, without further ado:
1. I talked to one of my students today before class about his behavior and he completely took responsibility, and then was ON FIRE in class today, it was awesome. (And that class is not super participatory, so it was great to have his enthusiasm!)
2. My students were finishing up their drawings of Dani the Gender-Neutral Crocodile, and one student accidentally referred to them as an alligator. I was walking by, and I asked if she knew how to tell an alligator from a crocodile. She started listing some guesses, as did a girl nearby, and I blithely shook my head to all their suggestions and informed them that, if you see it later, it’s an alligator, whereas if you see it in a while, it’s a crocodile. The look on the first girl’s face was just… You have not lived until you see a teenager slowly dying from a teacher’s terrible joke. (Her drawing was, of course, amazing).
3. After one student was being a total butt to me for the millionth time, three different students specifically came up to me at the end of class to tell me that *they* liked my class, and others chimed in in. (That one’s bittersweet, but I really need to remember that the Butt-Acting Kid is outnumbered, and that it’s really special to have a whole bunch of teens admit to liking a class.)
4. Former students *who initially struggled in my class* going out of their way to sprinkle Spanish into the conversation when we chat in the hallway.
5. Seeing my awesome friend at a free concert she’d invited me to, and listening to a song about eggplants and wine, and then chatting with her about pretty much anything.
And guys, this was just from today. (And there’s more stuff, too, like getting to read a little bit of No One Can Pronounce My Name while a class I subbed for watched a video, and eating an ice cream sandwich, and also eating The Best Lentil Soup In The World And I Would Know I’ve Eaten A Lot Of Lentil Soup, and struggling through staying in gender-neutral language while talking about Dani but feeling how good it was to practice it because I’m pretty sure at least one student in that class is non-binary, and explaining the -ito/-ita and -cito/-cita suffix to my students and seeing them enjoy adding it to their names… I’ll make little linguists of them all!)
I’m not tagging anyone in particular, because I don’t want anyone to feel pressure. But feel free to spread the positivity!
Rebellions are built on hope 