Playing Favorites

2 weeks into my student teaching, and I love every single one of the children in my 4th grade class. A girl I work with asked me yesterday if I "have any favorites yet...?" I sat and thought because surely there is one student I think is the best- always behaves, reads silently, makes jokes, and smiles at me like I'm the coolest person they've ever met. But the fact of the matter was, I can NOT pick a favorite.

I can't pick a favorite because each child is my favorite:
1. There's one girl who acts crazy every day but she is intelligent and beautiful
2. There's one boy who is goofy and lacks the quiet attention during lessons but he's bright as can be
3. There's one tiny girl who acts like she never has any idea what is going on but when she participates, her intelligence and compassion shine through
4. There's one boy who is always quiet and obedient but given the opportunity he'll beat you with sarcasm
5. There's one girl who seems to lack any drive or competitive nature, but she strives, doesn't give up, and gives the best hugs
6. There's a boy who has a hard time reading in his free time, but he is so intelligent and precious and can keep time on a stopwatch better than anyone in his class

This list could go on and on. I am working with some of the most precious lives on the planet. What makes each child so wonderful is that they are all so different. And the things that seem to be "annoying" or "abnormal" are really just things teachers often try to push on their students inside the classroom so the environment is a much quieter and "parent/principal" friendly place.
We need all of these children.
We need all of us.

I can't pick a favorite. I never want to pick a favorite in any classroom where I stand as teacher. Because... we need all of us. We need the scatter brained, the hyper active, the absurdly goofy, the unorganized and uncompetitive. We also need the rigid, boring, silent, dry, organized individuals.

We were all created in the same Image. We are each unique, and He created all of us because He wanted all of us. And I bet we all fit someone else's profile of a person they "can't stand."

Don't pick favorites.
We need us.

The Learning Never Stops

The closer I get to being a teacher, the more I feel prepared, and the less I feel like I know. Don't get me wrong: I fully feel prepared to teach a classroom of 20 students who will call me "Miss Allen." But don't get me wrong, I don't think you can ever be prepared to immerse yourself in what we call the real world.

The closer I get to April 30, 2011, the less I feel "old." I look in the mirror some mornings feeling fully competent and capable of whatever "Educational jargon" my teacher will throw my way. And then some mornings I look in the mirror and think "I'm 21. There's no part of me that's old enough to do anything." But you know, the closer I get to Teacher Certification and a diploma that costs $50.00, the more I think we'll never really feel old enough to start anything. We're never old enough to get married, we're never selfless enough to becomes parents, and we're never competent enough to start a job without getting a few bruised knees along the way.

I will become a teacher. BUT, if I think for a second that makes me exempt from learning, someone needs to take away my diploma and keep my $50.00. This blog is my journey. A year from now I'LL be the one doing the teaching and the one watching young minds learn how some math really isn't ever practical to the real world. BUT, amidst the lesson planning and lecturing, I'm an idiot if I don't receive an education in the process. Life should never cease to be an education... and sure, yeah, my life will be spent in a classroom. But my classroom is only literal... Don't we all spend our lives in a classroom?