Bright and shining vision

The work week has started. The kids are back in school. And yesterday I had a nice heartwarming moment. It was a view of one of the things I dream about when I see my future.

It was 6th period and I was in science class. The teacher and I had tried to get the kids to quiet down enough to do an activity that would be part discussion and part experiment. That hadn't worked so I wrote vocabulary words on the board, we handed out dictionaries to the groups and their assignment was to look up the definition of each word.

Some of them didn't have good dictionary skills so that was part of the learning experience. I went around assisting about 5 different tables of kids. If they knew how to use the dictionary they were pretty much self learners and worked really well on their own. The others I would help look up words and keep on task.

At one point the teacher had to step out to take care of something and left me in charge. This is a notoriously rowdy class but he'd done this before so it wasn't horrible. The nice thing about this time was that the kids were so busy that most of them didn't even notice he'd left. I kept circling among the groups that were being productive and those needing support. I was so busy and into that teaching/support flow that I didn't notice his absence either.

That was when it happened. In one split second of awareness I realized that things were working well. The kids were learning and staying involved in what they were supposed to be doing, I was keeping up with their needs, my scan of the classroom was doing what it should (show me where I was needed), and the classroom was functioning as it was supposed to.

That vision made me happy in a way that nothing else could have. That vision is what I dream of when I envision my future classroom. It must be one of the joy of every teacher when they see things going smoothly and learning flows. I am so thankful for that moment that I had to share it. Thank God for that bright and shining vision.