Thankful

I have two students that greet me every single day when they come into my classroom and thank me when they exit.  When the school year first started, I sort of brushed these students off thinking they were just being polite.  Strangely enough, these two students are sisters.  At parent-teacher conferences, I spoke with their parents and told them how polite and respectful their daughters are because they are the only students to ever thank me when they leave.  Then, the parents of these two students told me something I’d never considered – they are thankful to have me as a teacher, to be learning, and to be in my classroom. Up until this year, these students were home-schooled.  The girls spent quite an amount of time convincing their parents that they should go to school, rather than be home-schooled.  These girls are not only polite but actually want to be in school. 

An article appeared on Edutopia called, “Thank a Student.”    Sometimes, we get so caught up in our everyday life that we forget to be truly appreciative.  Once these students’ parents told me how grateful the girls were to be in school, it made me appreciate them that much more.  Provenzano says, “Not only do teachers feel underappreciated, but students feel this way, too.”  This is so important in developing a relationship with students.  It is important to show our students that we are grateful to have them in our class.