We are halfway through March, the weather is warming up (except for that one time when it snowed this morning), and a bit of spring fever is starting to set in. My students are all getting very comfortable with each other which is leading towards a huge surge of CHATTINESS. Seriously. They will not stop talking. So, this week, I have decided to have a refresher course on raising our hands. I told my class what we would be working on, set some goals with them, dangled a couple of rewards in front of them for a bit of extra motivation, and we were off.
After just a few minutes, they were all beginning to realize how much they really did interrupt and blurt out without raising their hands. There were some who thought it was funny that we kept on forgetting. Others were getting frustrated with how easily they forgot. We had moments of victory when some of my chattiest of the chattiest remembered to raise their hands. We had moments of defeat when that favorite someone just could not for the life of him remember to not just shout out the first thing that popped into his head. And we had lots of close-call moments when students would start to say something and then suddenly stop, look at me with the oh-you-thought-you-were-going-to-get-me-miss-brown-but-you-actually-aren't-because-I'm-going-to-stop-talking-now-and-raise-my-hand look, and then shoot their hand up in the air with a big grin. The best was when Nick put his hands on his cheeks and while shaking his head exclaimed, "We are NEVER going to get this right! Seriously. We aren't."
So while it's been a long past couple of days, I must say that I don't blame them for having a hard time with this. It's difficult to break a bad habit and to train yourself to begin a new habit. Many of us have gone through the process of wanting to change a behavior, have started out with great hopes, messed up several times in a row, and then become discouraged and wonder if change is possible, just like my little first graders.
I have this quote on the bulletin board in my room to help me when I find myself caught up in this cycle:
I love this quote. I love that Elder Christofferson, an Apostle of the Lord, is telling us that repeated attempts to change are not only okay, but can actually be viewed as holy. Bet you hadn't thought of it that way before. (P.S. This is from an incredible talk called "The Divine Gift of Repentance." You should read it...after you finish reading this.) We really learn and grow so so much as we go through the process of breaking a habit or, on a deeper level, repenting and turning away from a sin. It definitely is a refining and humbling process that takes diligence, effort, and patience with yourself. A lot of patience with yourself. Did I mention you need to have patience with yourself? Because you do. You need to have patience with yourself.
I'm beginning to figure out that just as we aren't expected to be perfect in life, Heavenly Father doesn't expect us to be perfect in the process of repentance or change. So don't be too hard on yourself if at times you blurt out and forget to raise your hand. Keep trying and move forward. Every step forward counts for something, even if there's the occasional step back.
Oh, and be patient with yourself. Your Teacher is.
Just something that I am going through that I thought might help someone else.
No comments:
Post a Comment