Picture this...
A fifth grade classroom, full of nineteen ten and eleven year olds, a student teacher and a teacher. The teacher is explaining to the students that doing homework and getting their agenda signed everyday are their responsibilities as fifth graders. We explain to them, "Just wait until you reach middle school and the homework multiplies!"
The teachers look over and a student is scratching his ear with his foot. What? Seriously? Why? Both teachers bend over and start laughing, so hard that the room is silent. The students are confused and slightly frightened. Without seeing their teachers' faces, they don't know whether this pause in the lecture is good or bad. The teachers finally stand up and catch their breath and the class erupts into laughter.
When asked why he scratched his ear with his foot, the student replies that his neighbor was scratching his ear with his hand while saying "Woof! Woof!" He simply wanted to explain that dogs scratch their ears with their back legs, not front legs. It is the simple, albeit interesting and often misunderstood, logic of a fifth grader.
The students remind me to laugh. Life is not all about homework and agenda signatures. Remember to breathe, to think about the simple things in life, and enjoy the students as people. That is what they are, little, growing people and we are helping to shape them.
