The opportunity to watch a child develop their social, cognitive, and/or problem solving skills is one that we as educators do not take lightly. It is the gift that we do not take for granted. Some days seem like many others, but on those extra special occasions when we see a child open up and show us a glimpse of their potential selves, we cannot help but know we have the best jobs on the planet.
Don’t get me wrong, teaching isn’t all sunshine and rainbows. We have the task of developing a growing mind, aiding the child as they use the tools we give them to develop their cognitive abilities in areas of academia while taking into account a child’s mood, health, hormones, background, etc. Bring all those factors to the table in one room filled with 20+ children and as you can imagine, things can get pretty challenging from time to time.
However, it is with all these things in mind, when we see one of our young students overcome something that is perplexing to them, whether social, academic, or the like, it is simply an honor to witness. One such an example is seeing a reserved child, open up a smile – a real, honest-to-goodness, joyous smile, after weeks of adjusting to his or her new school. Or when, for the first time, you see a child piece together the phonetic sounds of three letters to make one gorgeous word – total, and complete elation over-comes us. There’s no better feeling in the world than on days when we get to be a part of any of these beautiful milestones in a child’s young life.
On days when half the class has colds and it seems tough to get their young minds ready and in learning mode, it is these special moments that keep us in love with our jobs because it is within those moments we know we are truly making a difference to someone.
