From the Past: What Really Matters

Some of you may know that before Stacey &  I began blogging together I wrote a blog called Inspiring Readers and Writers. As Two Writing Teachers grew, I poured more of my time and energy here instead. Eventually Inspiring Readers and Writers became dormant and Two Writing Teachers became the only place I blogged professionally. Still, I have some favorite posts from my first blog that I would like to have a home here too. I hope these “From the Past” posts are as inspiring to you as they are to me.

Saturday, January 13, 2007

Sometimes I think we get caught up in having the perfect plan, the perfect lesson, the perfect unit, the perfect curriculum, and our students producing the perfect pieces. This isn’t what really matters. A middle school student, Jessica, reminded me of that this week.

I was simply walking to my office when I saw her in the hallway. She smiled and I said, “Hi Jessica.” Her response — “You remembered my name.” I smiled; I had been in her classroom for two days. Then she chatted with me about the trouble she was having with her draft — getting the meaning to come out. Later in the week I conferred with Jessica. We talked about focusing her poem and a bit more about her meaning.

Yesterday afternoon Jessica saw me in the hall again, smiled, and waved. It struck me then. Jessica probably won’t remember the details of our writing conference in years to come. What she will remember, though, is that I cared about her. I cared enough to remember her name. I cared enough to sit down one on one and have a conversation with her. I cared enough to smile and wave good bye on a Friday afternoon.

Those are the things that really matter. The things we do to care enough for our students.