Clay People

 

 

The past few weeks have been crazy testing weeks at school.

(Ask any teacher, and they will tell you there is too much testing nowadays!)

And to make matters worse-in one more week we have our big state writing test.

(It also doesn’t help that I gave my students the wrong computer test and now we have one more to do!)

Anyway, it was a busy, frustrating, too-much-to-do-no-time-to-do-it-week.

By Friday night I was feeling drained, depleted, and discouraged.

As I dragged myself home from school, I certainly questioned whatever made me choose education as my choice of career.

Do you ever doubt yourself,too?

Maybe I’m not cut out for the pressure filled responsibility of getting all my students on grade level, when many come to me way below grade level, or are struggling to just learn English.  Problems at home can make learning even harder for many.

Discipline problems, frequent moving, and absenteeism can get in the way, too.

Well, I’m not ready or willing to abandon my career quite yet.  Despite the frustrations, for the most part, I do enjoy what I do.  Working with children isn’t always easy, but the rewards are often priceless.

Some of my best compliments have come from eight and nine year olds.  Hearing a student say he didn’t used to like school, but learned to like it when he was in my class is a pay day I’ll always treasure.

Seeing a student finally “get it” after struggling and struggling with a concept is also very rewarding.

So what do the clay people have to do with all

this?

 

I love the creativity of children!

These interesting people, who sit on a shelf in one of our bedrooms, were created by our daughter, Liz, when she was still a child.  She created her clay people because she loved doing it. 

She taught herself.

All we had to do was provide the clay.

I hope that the future of education will still provide children with some time to be creative, original, and inventive. 

Yes, they need training, guidance, skills, and practice, but

maybe we need to step back a bit and let them be kids, too. 

What do you think?

JoAnn

P.S.  Time hasn’t been completely kind to this couple.  The man slipped from his original position in the frame, and the woman’s nose has suffered some major flattening from the glass (sounds like the aging process), but I still find them endearing.