Influence

I've been thinking a lot about influence this week. My kiddos had their talent show a couple of weeks ago (it was awesome, by the way!) and one of my students chose to sing a song by Carrie Underwood. It was called, "I Ain't in Checotah Anymore." The reason she chose it was because one line said, "I'd rather be tippin' cows in Tulsa than hailing cabs in New York City." Now, I'm sure she didn't really mean that she'd rather tip cows in Tulsa...she doesn't even know what that means! And when I met her dad a couple of nights later, he said, "So you're the reason my daughter loves country music and Oklahoma now!" I told him it would be really cute until football season (you know Oklahoma beat Missouri in the Big 12, right?). It's incredible how much influence you can have on others, especially young children. It's scary and wonderful, all at the same time. I just hope and pray that my influence on each of my students is more good than anything else.

After my teammates and I finished our cumulative folders this evening (the ones that follow our students all the way through high school...no pressure, right?), we headed to a Mexican restaurant for margaritas to celebrate the end of the year and hopefully the return of our sanity. We were laughing about all the crazy things we've done this year and how close we've been to losing our minds. It might just be a teacher thing, but when you start clapping syllables while giving instructions, you're on the verge of losing it. I bent down right in front of two boys today and clapped while saying, "I'm-go-ing-to-need-you-to-stop-and-lis-ten." Who does that?!? And I've also been doing lots of yoga breathing this last week. I can tell my kiddos get nervous when I do that, cause they're all watching me like my head might explode. Plus once, I even shut my eyes and took three deep breaths when a student was asking me the same question for the fifth time. I didn't even bother to answer the question. These are the kinds of things that I hope DON'T influence my students...

But on the more positive side, one of my students wrote me a thank you note. Normally you can tell their parents make them do it, like right after they've gotten in trouble for the third time, but this one was really heart-felt. The end of her letter read:

I am very sad to know that we have to end our year. Can you believe it went by so fast? I can't. Please tell me which first grade class your (you're) in next year. Have a great summer! TEAM TEAL!

It was such a cute letter and one I'll keep in my "smile file" forever. But the best part was the "Team Teal." We just started that yesterday during field day. After each station, we'd meet up to put our fists together and yell it at the top of our lungs. Our whole day was built around cooperation and teamwork, which has been EXTREMELY difficult for this class. Yesterday, I finally saw my class coming together to cheer each other on and encourage one another. If that's the one thing they take from this year, I am satisfied. Now, they may not know division or remember anything about the Powhatan Indians, but they will be successful in life. It's been a long, tough year, but hopefully I've influenced all 22 students in some small way...