It's been awhile since I have posted here. I didn't know where else to document this lesson! SO here it is.
Learned a valuable lesson this morning teaching dance:
I had seen him before in the hallways, usually walking with an administrator or sitting in the office. When he came to my classroom I had already given up on him. I wasn't surprised when he asked to go change his schedule and I willing allowed him to leave. But he came back, they wouldn't let him change his classes until lunch so we both had to deal with it for the next 50 minutes. Looking to sit out he told me he had a headache....right...I told him I expected him to participate while he was in my classroom, at least the best he could and I told him I was sorry.
I didn't fight him. I asked him nicely to remove his socks and shoes, I provided him with a pencil and paper for notes, I collected his notes because he didn't bring his binder. But I had no intention of keeping them, he was never coming back.
Then we started moving. He didn't run when I asked, he walked. He didn't put forth much effort at all, but I wasn't in the mood to push him, he was leaving anyway. But then when I asked the students to curve their spin and roll down to touch their toes he caught my eye. He tucked his chin first, he smoothly moved through the entire 8 count time frame and returned to standing just as I hoped all my students would. That's when I started to feel bad. He was good. He had potential. He could enjoy class. He deserved to have a class he could be successful in. But he was leaving, and I promised myself on the way to school I wouldn't worry about students who didn't want to take my class and allow them to change out if they wished to. Besides, with the effort he was putting forth, i could see despite his innate skill teaching him would probably be a struggle...but then isn't that why I teach!?! because of the struggle! I don't want to teach if there is no one to help, nothing to accomplish, no way to make a difference. He is the kind of student I would like to help, to reach out to, to encourage.
But he was leaving....so I kept on moving and kept class going.
At the end of class as I helped the students figure out locker combinations and answer questions about dance attire he came to my desk and abruptly spoke to me.
"You know what. I respect you. You want to know why I respect you? You move with us. Other P.E. teachers, coaches and instructors just watch you. But you do it with us!"
I can't remember ever receiving such a great compliment from a student. It was so insightful and something I never expected to be appreciated for. I told him as sincerely as I could how grateful I was for his feedback and expressed how much I love dancing alongside my students.
He walked away but I dared to ask him, "Are you sure you don't want to stay?" To which he replied, "Oh yeah, I'm staying now."
This experience has filled me with both fear and faith, well I guess humility and faith. I feel humbled that this student, who seems to respect very few individuals at our school has decided to respect me. I feel that this is a great responsibility and I pray that I can continue to be someone he respects and looks to for guidance at school. Just dancing with my students isn't everything, I know that, so I hope that I life my life in such a way that he can begin to respect me for other things, things that are of more consequence. I hope he begins to follow or learn from those examples that I set as well.
I am filled with faith because now I see how even the smallest things can make a big difference. To model and demonstrate what I am asking my students to perform seems a small thing to me but it has presented me with a large reward. It makes me think, what other small things am I doing or not doing that could yield large and meaningful results. Sometimes when tasks or ideas are small I like to put them in the category of "inconsequential." I think nobody will really notice if it didn't happen or didn't exist right? No harm, no foul? Well what about no help, no happiness? Rather then making an effort to justify how my lack of action hasn't really hurt anybody because they don't know what they've lost I want to take the small choices presented to me and see them as a way to help someone gain something.
Small decisions can bring large rewards and make a big difference. And, they are SMALL decisions, they don't require a lot of effort so there is no excuse to justify not doing the small and simple things in my life. Here's to the small and simple that make life grand and greater!
