Little Victories
I am of the school of thought that kids like you more if you kind of ignore them at first; you know, don’t appear to overeager, but allow them to engage with you on their terms.
In that respect I am pretty patient with my preschool students who seem closed or shy.
In fact, sometimes I think I like them best.
Today I had two small victories in class with two different students who don’t usually have much to say.
The first was with a cautious boy who speaks Japanese. I can tell that he likes me and is comfortable around me, but until now most of his English has been produced in the form of songs and rhymes, and a few words like “help!”, and “come!”.
I was drawing some pictures of vehicles for our upcoming unit and he was watching me. I talked to him a little (one sided conversation) about his snack. Then out of nowhere he started naming the vehicles and their colors: Blue! Boat! Yellow! Airplane! Red! Bus!
I played it cool on the outside but inside I let out a big WOOHOO!
The next episode happened at lunch, where I was sitting at a table with a boy from Brunei and a Danish girl with selective mutism.
boy: (random shouting) Tom and Jerry!
me: Do you like to watch Tom and Jerry?
girl with selective mutism: Tom and Jerry is funny!
me: *she talked! she talked! stay cool… Which one do you like the best, Tom or Jerry?
girl: Tom! Jerry is always laughing!
…
Wow! Who knew Tom and Jerry could be used for theraputic purposes.
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19 January 2010, 7:41 am
Congrats on the little victories. They sound pretty big to me, but I know exactly what you are saying. Great job getting them to open up.
19 January 2010, 8:09 am
Lovely! Congratulations.
19 January 2010, 9:25 am
Congratulations! Sometimes those little victories with students are even more exciting than the supposedly big ones
19 January 2010, 9:47 am
Wonderful! I know the little things are really what makes all the difference, aren’t they?
19 January 2010, 11:55 am
That is so awesome! I’ll bet you’re a great teacher!
20 January 2010, 7:21 am
I loved these parts of being a teacher, when you see a child open up in a way that they haven’t before. It didn’t happen often, but when it did it was amazing.