How You Know It Made a Difference

Yesterday I spent the day in the elementary building that I will be working as the principal of in the fall.

It was a great day.  So excited to be around little people again (it's a K-2 building... I'm currently in a 3-5 building) and so great to see such wonderful teaching going on.

I ran into the brothers and sisters and cousins and friends of students that I've had in 3rd grade the past four years.

One little friend said to me, "Do you know my brother?".  I asked who the brother is and, we'll just call him "O".  I said, "I love your brother, O!".  This kiddo... a first grader says to me...

"Remember when O wrote that great sentence for you?"

And I almost lost it.

O is in 5th grade now.  So, two years ago, as a 3rd grader, O wrote a beautiful line during our narrative writing unit.

O is so smart, but school isn't easy for him; he has to work hard... especially in language arts.

So, during the narrative writing unit while studying alliteration, simile, and metaphor, O asks to share his writing.

He climbs into the author's chair and faces his class.

The story is about playing football outside on a hot summer day.  O reads as fluently as he can, and then he gets to THE line.

The line about emerging from his house to play football.

And O says...

"I opened the door and nature's own fire furnace flamed on my face."

And you'd better believe this teacher flipped out.  Not only is this a gorgeous line of text and a shining example of exactly what I wanted my kiddos to do... but this is a THIRD grader.  And one who struggles a bit with language arts!

So, of course, I doted on him and praised him and, to this day, still talk to him {and my own students during this unit!} about this beautiful line.

Fast forward to yesterday.

First grade brother says, "Remember when O wrote that great sentence for you?" and I get a huge grin and start to say the line out loud.

And that's when FIRST GRADE BROTHER proceeds to repeat the line to me.  Word.  For.  Word.

That praise that O got that one day in that one classroom all those years ago... his first grade brother knows all about it.  First grade brother knows all about me.

First grade brother knows that O is smart.  O is a writer.  And, now I know that O knows it too.

And that's how I know that it made a difference.

O knows he did something special that day.  And those things I said to him... they matter.

So, the moral of the story is...

Don't discount those little things that you say and do in your classroom.  One hug.  One smile.

Even one little sentence praising good writing.

It

Matters.