Those days

Teaching, frequently, seems more like marching and less like dancing; however, there are those days and those moments when teachers and students riff, departing the score and improvising; it is there and then when magic occurs.  These days keep teachers returning to the classroom, day-after-day and year-after-year.

Yesterday, was such a day.

It is the tradition of our English Seminar (a class I have now team taught for six years) to hold an end of the year picnic as a celebration of who we are and what we do.  The "who we are" part is that we are a class of struggling high school readers and writers.  The "what we do" part is that we strive to create a classroom community that seeks to methodically strengthen skills and build confidence in kids for whom school is not place where success comes easily. After a lot of pushing, pulling, nagging, encouraging, repeating, and reteaching, growth really does inevitably occur.  The purpose of our celebration is to name that growth and celebrate it together.

Our picnic was rained out by a week's worth of rain that made the ground soggy and slippery. Plan B was to set up tables and have a buffet/dinner party.  Smaller, more intimate, and ultimately lovely.

 We had pulled pork and hamburger barbeque. One of kids made the most amazing mousse-filled, Swiss chocolate cups (he dreams of going to culinary school and I have no doubt he will!).

 We gave out awards to each student and books to our "graduating" 10th graders.  We were loud, there was music playing, and  plenty of laughter.  These really are the days....