As we wind down towards the end of the school year here at McDowall SS, we are all get a bit tired and ready for a holiday. I am looking forward to visiting my holiday location. We leave on the first Wednesday of our break and it should be fantastic. As a year seven teacher, this is the most challenging time of the year. The kids are already in 'I am to cool for primary school, get me out of here' mode. I have never had huge problems but their behavior and work ethic slackens off a little bit. If I am being truthful with myself, my effort kind of does as well.
Last night we had our 1-1 laptop meeting for next year and to be honest I arrived this morning feeling very flat and over things. The weather here in BrisVegas is disgusting at the moment and I have been sleeping very poorly (I would use a stronger word but I am a very formal person and don't want to upset anybody) I had a visit from one of my students from two years ago and she was collecting some work that she had done in the past that she wanted to use for an assignment. We had been communicating back and forth about how she was going to get it. She ended up just coming in and it was great to see her. She was a fantastic kid, who just makes the world that she lives in a better place by her demeanor. She came in at around 8:05am and left by 8:15am
So after 8:15am my crew starts to wander into the classroom. As per normal I get the usual 'Good Mornings' etc and I usually can tune into conversations about Glee, homework, the latest playground gossip and who is going out with whom. I usually ignore most of it, especially my boys talking about Minecraft. Then I started to hear a conversation that one of my boys was having about something that he did last night and everybody was crowding around his machine. This intrigued me because he is a pretty good kid and I hoped that he wasn't doing anything stupid.
Stealthily (or as stealthily as a 190cm 100kg man could be) I snuck up and crossed my fingers that they weren't doing anything dumb. As I glanced over their shoulders, I noticed that they were looking at Wikipedia. My first thought was that it would be something like this but I was really surprised to find out that it wasn't. Last night, one of my students created a Wikipedia page from scratch for our school. When I asked him why he did it, his answer almost floored me "Mr Proud you are always going on about us adding value to the world and I was bored. I thought that this would leave something of me behind that our school can use for ever and others can build upon and change." It just totally blew me away! I then started to look at the structure of the page. "How did you come up with the structure?" I asked. "I just looked at other schools pages and used their template," he responded. Wow! Then I noticed something that concerned me and it put me in a very awkward spot. He had put the names of students who had leadership positions on the page. Whilst this wasn't a huge deal, I was still a bit concerned as he didn't have parent permission. When I mentioned this to him he response was just as awesome - "No problems Mr Proud, I will delete and edit them now!"
So that is how one student made my day. Whilst it wasn't overly 'wizz bang fancy' like some of the other things that we have produced during the year, it is the one that I think has made the biggest impact on me. Alan November would be very proud!
Ashley what a great post, and what a great kid. What I took away from this post is that you have made a difference there. You influenced change. You are the gardner that cared for that students growth. His answer was perfect. You should write that down onto a poster, and display it somewhere that you can look at daily to affirm your own beliefs, pedagogy, and work - especially for those days we all have when we feel "why am I doing this?"
ReplyDeleteYou also wrote in your post "She was a fantastic kid, who just makes the world that she lives in a better place by her demeanour." Have you told her that? I am sure that would be a great ego boost to her, and would give her extra confidence to go out and make that difference in the world.
Once again thanks for sharing Ashley. :)
Congratulations and kudos to the lessons you've impressed upon your student. "Adding value....that others can build upon" ....powerful words from an emerging adult.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy, as you head into your break.
Heather
Great post Ash. You 've reminded me that there are good kids out there after a challenging week dealing with the other end. Good to see there are kids listening, even when we think they're not...
ReplyDeleteHi Mate. Love the new-look blog.
ReplyDeleteThis post is a wonderful example of how teachers can shape their students' view of education, and how we can enable them to directly and meaningfully contribute to the world around them.
Thanks for sharing,
Michael
That is a great story. As a Year 7 teacher I understand exactly what you're saying abouth this time of year. We are all tired and a little deflated, but this would have made anyone's day!
ReplyDeleteExcellent a nice way to end the year. Obviously you have made an impact on him. Have a great holiday.
ReplyDeleteWhy this line in bold? "Mr Proud you are always going on about us adding value to the world and I was bored. I thought that this would leave something of me behind that our school can use for ever and others can build upon and change."
ReplyDelete