kaki and jaki

i love being a teacher and yes - i do love the three months off and can hardly believe school starts back up in two weeks. the first couple of days are HARD because i develop bad biorhythmical habits in the summer, staying up L A T E and sleeping in. i can relate to the wide-eyed shock present on the kids’ faces.

but soon enough, both teachers and students are in the groove.

getting to know a new group of students is challenging and exciting...as the school year progresses, the class becomes a family. we have nine months to grow and learn and gel. every year i think “THIS is the best class ever!” “There’ll never be another class as wonderful as this one!”

but every fall, we are blessed with a new group of little people, just waiting to be taught and directed and molded.

i say “we” because i team teach with one of my best friends, nancy. when we first got placed together in an inclusion classroom (she’s the general teacher - i’m the inclusion or intervention teacher), we barely knew each other. we quickly realized, though, how compatible we were in the classroom and how our teaching styles perfectly complemented one another. in the past three years, we have grown to be close friends. what a wonderful blessing to get to work everyday with someone you really like and whose company you truly enjoy!!!

this past school year was especially challenging for nancy and me. we had a small class size (18), but 11 were on IEPs and needed special intervention. one of those was kaki. she is extremely bright but has some difficulty getting her thoughts on paper. so i had the privilege of working with her quite extensively. and what a joy that was! she is an ANGEL......it’s impossible to be in a grumpy mood around her because she is always happy and smiling....she lights up a room!

right from the start, kaki and i really hit it off. we both love Jesus and butterflies and writing. and like a butterfly, nancy and i watched her transform from a timid student who doubted her abilities to a confident girl who excelled in the classroom! everyone in our class just loved her.

i recall a writing lesson in which i was teaching about similes, comparisons using like or as. i had several words on the board and was trying to get the class to finish the phrase with a simile - we came up with hungry as a bear, fast as a cheetah, and sweet as _________ (i was thinking honey or candy) but one of the boys yelled out KAKI............SWEET AS KAKI!!! the entire class agreed.

and i think that pretty much sums up how her classmates viewed her.

kaki marveled at my butterfly photographs so i gave her prints of them and she hung them in her bedroom. i took her to the franklin conservatory to see the butterfly exhibit. she knew extensively more about butterflies than i did. later, she wrote a story about our adventure. she felt comfortable approaching me about things, like problems with her best friend or concern for her sick grandfather. i would listen and start to give my two cents when she would interject, “mrs. good, don’t you think we should pray about this?”

her faith was so strong and her love for God so obvious. we prayed many times during the school year.

i always say my dream job would be to be paid to travel the world and take pictures or to be a famous artist (can you imagine getting rich by creating art or taking photographs!!!?)

but seriously. i really do have a dream job.

in high school - i never wanted to be a teacher - i wanted to be something more “important” or “prestigious” like a lawyer or doctor.

but i am so thankful my path led to teaching.

nothing could be more important than impacting the life of a child.

think about it! i am so darn lucky!!

okay okay -

(and i get three months off!)