Monday, November 14, 2011

"That Was Unexpected!"

I have the luxury of doing brain gym with our school community two days a week at our Community Time. Day one usually consists of teaching and modeling a new Brain Gym strategy that we can use, with day two being a pop quiz and taking a picture of a student modeling the strategy for our Brain Gym Wall. (We have pictures of all the strategies the students have learned this year posted so they can trigger their memory.) Each week, I give it my best while trying to inspire students to be all they were created to be. (All within five minutes of course!)
One particular week, I was giving it my best and I hear “Hey Mrs. X, Mrs. X… hey, hey!” I’m looking in the middle of our 350+ faces to see a precious special needs student who was in my class last year, enthusiastically participating and trying to get my attention. I acknowledged him as he became even more verbal and excited. I thought, ‘This is what it feels like to be heckled!’ (by a 6 year old) I couldn’t help but laugh.  Well, later in the day, this little fella approaches me with letter in hand. “Dear Mrs. X, I am so sorry I was hollering at you during Brain Gym. That was unexpected.” Well… that cracked me up. He evidently didn’t expect to holler at me! It was unexpected for both of us! His little face was so serious… but with a hint of ‘I wonder what I’m going to eat for dinner.’ This had me smiling the rest of the day. The unexpected behaviors are often the ones that get my attention and help me to notice the blessing in life.
From this point forward, I will march on, with my lesson plan in hand, but make sure along the way to let the “unexpected” grab my attention and remind me of how blessed I am to do what I do!
            

4 comments:

  1. How wonderful that you took that moment and considered it a blessing. Your kiddos are lucky to have a kind-hearted soul like you in their lives.
    -Stacey

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  2. Nice story to hear. He must have been so, so excited to see his former teacher that he had to shout!

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  3. What a fun post! His comment about "unexpected" was so funny, and also a great reminder of how life works for some special ed. kiddos!

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  4. How precious that he wrote an apology letter! Clearly giving your best is working for those students!

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