Celebrating Learning

MD Duran on Unsplash

Sometimes you’ll have a sad day but list up happy things that you had that day. Maybe you’ll feel better. And in life it’s a very important thing to feel thankful to people and for the situation. —Middle school student exam reflection based on reading “How to be patient,” Newsela. 

I’m going to follow my middle school student’s advice on the exam I read yesterday. 

I just completed my first school year on the Japanese academic schedule—April to March. I attended graduation this morning, the young women resplendent in kimono. The cherry blossoms are blooming, the windows are open, the drapes billowing in the breeze, and the tractors are being taken out of storage and tuned up for plowing and planting the rice fields. There’s a feeling of completion: as I assessed exams yesterday, students articulated and I could see the learning that had taken place this year. And yet…it IS only spring…and I have to have my new classes ready to go in 3 weeks. It’s been a year with a steep learning curve for me: new grade levels (6 and 7) and new subjects (English as a foreign language). But “happy things” did happen, things that make me thankful for the opportunities I’ve had and the students I’ve been blessed to teach. Here are some of them from the last week:

High school student on exam essay: “I have learned how I should live in a world with contradiction and evil, as a Christian who desires to help children in poverty…. God desires…shalom in these situations. Therefore, even if I struggle, I want to follow Him with having shalom.”

High school student in final speech: “I am thankful that I chose to go to this class because I’ve learned a lot of things about poverty, cultural differences, morality, and many other things and I also learned about the way to live and the way to love people. Teachers are one of the people who educate students about their choices and guide them to make good choices. So please continue to be involved in student choices as it has guided us as well over the past year.”

Middle schooler in note on back of exam: “Thank you for teaching me a lot of English. I mostly don’t like books, but you made me like them! I am already excited for next year English!”

Parent thank you note: “We appreciate your...teaching students essential reading, writing and critical thinking skills; and encouraging book reading throughout the year…. We are impressed to see [our child’s] writing and reading skills have improved drastically…. He finished reading so many books…. Your lessons are also inspiring and help him see things from different perspectives….” 

I think that parent summarized my course more concisely than I did on my syllabus last year! 

So next week I’ll be thinking about how to make the classes I’ll be teaching again even better, and how to begin getting a handle on the new class I’ll be teaching, but for today, it’s enough to celebrate the blessings of what went well in a year full of challenge and strangeness everywhere, but also full of growth and learning.

What good things are you celebrating in your classes this year?