Amplifying Joy by Telling My Happy Stories

What stories did you tell this week? Teachers want to help, so we tend to focus on problems that need to be fixed—maladaptive behaviors, underdeveloped skills, knowledge gaps. Those are the stories we talk about in the staff room and the things we turn over in our minds at night. 

Problem solving is important in its place, but when I’m over focused on problems, it can affect my mindset and undermine my well-being. When the stories I tell are always about the challenges and frustrations, I can come to see myself and my students as challenged and frustrated. That’s when I need to remember what Paul urges the Philippians to focus on: “…whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things” (NIV 4:8). 

To think about such things, I need to notice them. And generally what I’m thinking about is what I talk about. As I talk about them, my focus increases, and I notice more, creating a virtuous cycle of celebration.  

So this week I decided to collect and recount my happy stories—the lovely, admirable, excellent moments that happened with my 6th and 7th graders, the moments that sparked joy and reminded me how much I love my work and my students. Because sharing amplifies focus, I shared some of them as they happened with colleagues in the office or at the end of the day on social media. Now I’m pulling them all together so I can remember them again, and so I can share them with anyone who needs to hear a few teaching happy stories. Maybe then you can tell me a few of yours!

• I chatted with a breathless, damp, red-faced student outside the door of our 2nd period class as we waited for the first period class to finish and come out. She said they’d just finished a volleyball test in PE. “And it’s very…mushiatsui….” I supplied the English word for the Japanese: “Humid?” “Yes, humid. I feel like a dumpling.” She did look a lot like a steamed Chinese bun with filling. “That is a PERFECT simile!” I laughed—connecting it to the poetry we were studying in class.
• A student entering the classroom greeted me, "I found a cool word in my book—retrospect.” I replied, “That IS a cool word. Do you know what it means?” To which he answered, “Yeah…but I think it sounds like a robot name.”
• During independent reading time, a student I was conferencing with gushed, “I love Alan Gratz [author of the last 2 books she's read] because the chapters always end at a place that makes you want to know more!” Agreeing, I probed, “Do you know what a cliffhanger is?” “No!” she breathed, waiting wide-eyed for my explanation.
• In other independent reading news, some students are challenging themselves with harder books. One student who had chosen mostly Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Dogman comics decided to try Grenade by Alan Gratz, historical fiction set in Okinawa in World War 2. Another student who had been re-reading Sideways Stories from Wayside School books by Lois Sachar decided to try The Bridge Home by Padma Venkatraman, a contemporary novel about homeless children in India.
• As part of our poetry study, we explored Matsuo Basho's famous haiku about the sound of water when a frog jumps into an old pond. The next day we did Hebrew poetry and read Psalm 23:1-4. I read the line, "He leads me beside quiet waters" and asked what image the kids saw. One boy raised his hand and said, "I see the pond the frog jumped into." Ha. My mental image of Psalm 23 has been forever tampered with. But I do love it when kids make connections from one piece of literature to the next!
• Reading Psalm 23 we’d focused on the images extending the shepherd metaphor. The students sketched what they envisioned as I drew my mental pictures on the whiteboard (green pastures, quiet water, etc.). After class, one students wanted to show me her picture of “the darkest valley.” It included many pairs of glowing wolf eyes! (See photo above.)

Sure there are still challenges. There’s still the quiz that half the class did very poorly on. The student whose attention wanders. The student with gaps in background knowledge. We’re working on it. New seating chart Monday. Re-take on the quiz on Tuesday. In the meantime, I'm sitting here smiling as I've relived these happy stories. I love my students and I love my work. 

What are some of your happy stories from this week? What do you notice? Who do you tell? How do you celebrate?