This year I am an intervention teacher. I’m teaching SEVEN grade levels every day.
Brain. Tired.
While I’m mentally exhausted this year, it is incredibly rewarding. I’ve worked with about 300 kids so far this year.
Most of the time, my colleagues family, give me “bubble kids” who just need a little push to become proficient. Sometimes, I work with kids that need basics- like my sixth graders that need to memorize their multiplication facts.
When I get a new group of kids, I explain why I call my intervention group Surf Lessons.
“Do you know what surfer’s spend most of their time doing?” I ask.
Most kids enthusiastically say surfing.
I tell them whenever I watch surfers it seems to me that they spend most of their time falling off their surf board.
Even when they catch a wave, they don’t ride it all the way to shore and then just step off their surf board.
“Do you think when they fall they give up and pout saying, ‘I’m taking my surf board and going home!’?”
“They have fun. They laugh. They smile. They keep on surfing, or trying to surf. The time they spend actually riding a wave versus waiting for a wave or falling off waves is pretty small, but it is worth the time and effort.”
I want my class to be like that. We may have fallen a bit lately and what we are trying to do may feel pretty hard, but it will be fun putting in the time and effort to try again.
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