Making a connection
We all have them, children who just won’t take part or connect in class. They sit there determined to do nothing – even just getting them to get their exercise book out requires monumental effort and negotiation on your part. If you ask them a question, they will answer but only grudgingly and with a rolling of the eyes. I have four of them.
However, last week that started to change: I had one of my first “Oh my god, it’s working!” moments. We were doing a class on Myself. I had written 11 sentences on the board which they had to copy and fill in i.e. My name is ……… / I have …………. sister(s). It took Kindergarden 3 the whole morning but we got through it and the children seemed to enjoy it. There were no requests of “Madame, game; Madame, game” an achievement in itself! Sammy had as usual sat there doing nothing much. As the bell rang for break, all the children left except for Sammy who came over to show me what he had done. It was only 4 sentences but he had never before voluntarily showed me his work. I then asked him if he would write me one more sentence and just like that he said yes! Every moment that I had battled with him to do one thing, one sum, one word, ANYTHING, was forgotten. It seems corny and clichéd but my heart literally swelled with pride as I watched him write out that one sentence. It was break and Sammy had chosen to stay in the classroom and do a little bit more work. I was so proud of him!
In fact all my difficult - and I use that term loosely - children are starting to connect and interact a lot more. At times it feels like one step forward and two steps back but when you get that connection going, even if only for a few minutes, it makes all those challenging moments worth it.
Teaching is hard work! I had not been prepared for how much it takes to connect with children and teach them in a way that is both interesting and educational. What I had not been prepared for either were those moments of connection with your class.
Today we sang the alphabet song – they were dutifully singing along but really weren’t that interested. So I decided to jump up and down in time to the beat. By the time we were singing it for the third time, every single one of them was up in the middle of the classroom jumping up and down with me. When it ended, Paulina ran to give me a hug and before I knew it I was standing in the middle of my first group hug. Are all those battles worth it? Absolutely.
- Lou Elard
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