What We Leave Behind-Imprints on the Soul

As we approach the end of another school year, it is time for celebration, reflection, and bittersweet goodbyes. The school year can be like a marathon race and roller-coaster all wrapped into one. I also equate the school year to a long car ride. We all start out as best friends, but as the ride gets longer, we get on each other nerves, and we may hear sayings like, “He’s looking at me, make him stop.”

In our class, we do some activities to combat this. We get a secret gratitude partner and write them letters, telling them why we appreciate them. When we reveal who are partners are, it is a joyful day. That seems to raise class morale and brings some fresh air into the long car ride of the school year.

Through all our 180 days in the classroom, it has been a fantastic school year, as it always is. In my class, we don’t do a “count-down” because this takes away from us enjoying today and being in the moment. We talk about how most of us are bored 2 weeks into summer, so let’s enjoy our precious time together.

A few days ago, at the graduation at our school, one speaker said, “Although you will physically leave this school, part of you will always stay at this school.” I really liked this. After the graduation, when we returned to the classroom, one thoughtful girl raised her hand and said, “What will I leave in this classroom after I am gone?”

Although those words were powerful, I realized that I could not immediately articulate what specifically she would leave. I looked at her smiling face and told her, “You will leave your smile in the classroom and also in my heart.” She looked up and said, “What about my intelligence?” I told her that not only would her intelligence stay with me, but her deep and original questions would resound in the minds of her classmates. She laughed, and I said that her laughter would light up our classroom even in her physical absence.

At last, I felt like I was getting at the heart of it. We all leave indelible imprints on each other, not always positive, but often memorable. I have been teaching for 10 years and have had the extreme pleasure of teaching over 300 students, and it is wonderful to know that they have all left their mark on my soul.

What the students leave with me, their imprints on my soul:

·         genuine kindness

·         hope for mankind when I see their indomitable spirit

·         a free pass into their magical worlds, full of love, wonder, play, laughter, and innocence

·         a chance to see the world through their eyes

·         a reminder to be in the moment where everything is fresh and new.

And what I hope to leave with my students:

·         a thirst for knowledge and the exhilaration of learning

·         a sense of awe and an awareness of the true strength of kindness

·         an openness and vulnerability paired with resilience

·         the gift of music as it open up parts of the soul that only music can reach

·         the idea that we never have a bad day, we just have a bad attitude

·         the thought that the difference between and adventure and an ordeal is our attitude

·         the ability to experience a profound gratitude for this world and everything in it, as well as some tools to explore that gratitude and take it deeper.

The Moment Gratitude Changed My Perspective in the Classroom

I have experienced many moments of gratitude that have changed my life. Yet as I reflect on these moments, one stands out, a moment in the classroom that changed the way I look at my “problems.”

 I am a teacher and I have had the tremendous pleasure of teaching for 10 years. Early on in my career, I had one student that challenged me and presented a “problem” in an interesting manner. This student would watch as I wrote on the white board and raise her hand with a little smile on her face. When I called on her, she would correct me saying things like, “Mr. Griffith, you spelled ‘millennium’ wrong.” On that particular day, I was tired and frustrated, and I did not take this statement very well. In fact, you might say I was “ungrateful” that morning for the student noticing my mistake.

On my first break, I stormed into the teacher’s lunch room and saw a trusted colleague. I told her what had happened and said that this student was being very disrespectful for pointing this out in front of the class. I said that this problem was ruining my day.

She smiled knowingly, as good friends do at these moments, looked at me and said, “That is one of those situations that you can complain about and build up a resentment or you could change it into something positive. That student had to be paying close attention to find the errors you make. You might think about giving students a reward for finding the errors. Then, if you make an error, you can tell them you were just testing them.” We both smiled and my resentment started to soften. My friend went on, “You just started doing a gratitude list with your students. Maybe that student should be at the top of your gratitude list because she is teaching you to turn problems into solutions.”

This startled me. I thought this conversation would go a different direction with some commiserating on our problems in the classroom. But this shock melted into a new way to look at this situation and to appreciate this student with gratitude. I realized that any time I am challenged in life, I do have an opportunity to turn around the situation by applying some gratitude and creativity.

I remembered that the Chinese symbol that represents crisis is a combination of danger and opportunity. If I focus on the opportunity, I will see something good that can come out of any “crisis.”

After lunch, I went back to my classroom and told the students that every day, I would be hiding at least one mistake on the board for them to find, making it a game. If a student found a mistake, they would get a little reward and could make a suggestion for an error for the next day.

Immediately, all the students starting paying closer attention to everything I wrote. They started noticing when I purposely wrote something wrong on the board, like a misspelled word or a grammar or punctuation error.

At the end of the school year, when this class took a standardized test, the scores for editing and correcting punctuation and grammar were through the roof. That one student, who started this entire change in perspective, scored at the college level in this area, and this was for a 4^th grade student. I realized that I could have squashed her talent, but a friend offered the perspective of gratitude and that turned this into a moment we all learned from and enjoyed.

The following year, I had a student who had a wonderful and mischievous sense of humor. This student had a reputation for being a real disruption to classes with his “inappropriate humor.” At the beginning of the school year, he tried to disrupt my class by blurting out something that got the entire class laughing but also got us all way off track. Instantly, I thought back to the moment with the other student and tried to think how this challenge and potential year-long battle could be turned into something positive.

Looking through the lens of gratitude, I saw this boy was funny yet he felt like he needed attention. So I told him, “If you can stay quiet all day, I will give you 2 minutes at the end of the day to do a comedy routine.” He got excited. He asked if he could work up a 5 minute routine and perform on Friday afternoon, so we would all have something to look forward to.

I agreed and never had a problem with him for the rest of the school year. Friday afternoon comedy routines became something we all looked forward to. He did one routine on the spelling bee and another on cafeteria food.  Both were hilarious and stayed within the boundaries of what was appropriate. As I keep these moments of gratitude fresh in my mind, I create a joy that changes those insurmountable problems into challenges that help me grow.