Do you ever have that moment during the day where you stop and think "that's making it to the dinner table tonight?" For me those moments usually come after I've done something particularly ridiculous to get a musical point across in a rehearsal. (The time I took off my shoe and used it to conduct the 6th Grade Band comes to mind.) They may not have always showcased my smoothest teaching skills, but my students were having fun, and they did what I wanted when we played the part again.
A bigger question should really be, "Were their dinner-time stories positive ones?" I have very distinct memories of telling my dad about how we had convinced my teacher to start the movie we were watching in the same place as the day before...and the day before that. It took a week to watch The Perfect Storm. (In a related note, my sincerest apologies to my 12th Grade English teacher for the fact that we totally took advantage of your trust in us when we told you where we left off!)
I find it extremely humbling to think that our activities (or my antics) were part of a family's discussion during their very important time together. When I meet a parent for the first time and they say something like "So you're Mrs. Rever! We've heard a lot about you!" it's a huge, and sometimes needed, reminder that my impact on a student goes beyond the time they spend in my class. This can be an easy thing to forget when trying to multitask our way through a day that requires so much more than the time we spend in with our students.
What kinds of things will your students want to talk about when they go home? Did your students have an experience today that they actually volunteered to share when they left school? Or will they shrug and say "nothing" when asked what they did in school today?"
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