A Softy in a Structured World

This is what teaching has been teaching me.

My students don’t know the real me

But they show me who they really are every day.

Their silliness.

Their whimsy.

Their impromptu dance parties on the carpet.

Their scribbles.

Their quiet rebellions.

And yet I can’t always let them be themselves.

I must keep order.

I must show them who is boss.

I must whip chaos into something that looks like learning.

But I don’t want to.

I want to laugh with them.

I want to hear their biggest dreams.

Their stories.

Their worst fears.

Their everything.

Every time I correct their behavior,

tell them to sit down instead of singing,

push them toward prescribed work

instead of their wild ideas for stories, video games, and businesses,

It kills my soul a little.

A classroom isn't just where children discover who they are. It's where teachers discover who they're becoming, too. 🍎✨

How can I have both—whimsy and order?

I don’t know.

But I will do everything in my power to figure it out.

Even if it takes me twenty years of teaching.

As God is my witness, I want my students to know me.

The real me.

Just as I am learning to know them.