Thankful for clothes (and other things)

Thanksgiving? Yes, please! Not only is Thanksgiving a great time to stop and think about all that we have to be thankful for (more on that later), but it's a much needed break for teachers to catch our breath before the next insanely busy 3-4 weeks before Christmas.

And I do have so much to be thankful for, one of those things being my students! They light up my life and make it interesting.

We started learning multiplication in math class, and I gave them flashcards to cut out. One girl was cutting them out extra carefully, and it delighted me to hear her say to another student, "I'm being so careful because I'm going to keep them and someday when I have kids, I'm going to tell them about how we made flashcards, and I'm going to make them use them!"

The boys talk about cars. A lot. Usually about which car is the fastest and the type of engines they have. I'm ignorant - I can't even pronounce some of the cars they talk about. I guess the girls are in the same boat as me, but the boys are not so understanding if they don't know what kind of engine the fastest car has. "Everyone should know that!" one boy proclaimed in disbelief.

Another thing the boys do is "drum" by tapping their pencils on their desks. It drives me nuts, and often I'll stop in the middle of whatever we're doing and say, "STOP TAPPING YOUR PENCILS!!"  One day one of the boys responded by saying, "I wasn't tapping a pencil." (It was an eraser.) I said, trying to choose my words carefully, "Don't be smart." I knew that was a bad choice of words as soon as they were out of my mouth. I was hoping no one noticed.  But immediately another boy turned to the classmate next to him and said in fake disbelief, "We can't be smart?!"

Any teacher will understand that when one person tells a story, it triggers 10 more hands in the air to tell their stories. Same goes for prayer requests. One day this week we were praying for five people with hurt fingers.

Yes, much to be thankful for. A job. The opportunity to influence these students' lives. The joy I get from doing what I love. Thanksgiving break. :)

I asked the students to write in their journals today about what they are thankful for. One boy wrote this: "I am thankful for the closts (clothes), food, house, and water because we born nakied..." Yes, we were. Add clothes to the list!

Happy Thanksgiving!