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courtesy gpaeanews.wordpress.com
courtesy gpaeanews.wordpress.com

Little people. That is whom I teach. I have a room full of loud, curious, eager, fidgety little people who I must teach Reading, Math, English, Social Studies, Science, critical thinking, social skills and personal hygiene to in 170 days.

State Department of Education, eat your heart out.

It is a privilege to be trusted with this large task. I don’t take it lightly. I know that I have a very large role to fill and I know that I have the support of parents.

But what about those of you who don’t have the support needed for this task? What about those of you who don’t even have the support of your administration? What do you do?

You are still pressed with meeting all of the above objectives. You are still entrusted with these little people. It isn’t their fault that you don’t have the necessary means to accomplish the task at hand. You still must get up every day and head to school knowing that homework won’t be finished by some and lunch money will be forgotten by others. You know tummies will be hungry in the morning from missing breakfast, even if the family is on free and reduced meals and could have had breakfast at school, but were unable to make it on time. You pull out the crayons, pencils, paper and markers that you purchased at the store this weekend with your own family’s groceries because you want your class to be prepared, and know that the ones who aren’t either don’t have the money to purchase supplies or come from a family that, let’s face it, just doesn’t care about the child’s success.

But YOU do.

You are the variable that will cause success.

You are the smile, the laughter, the friendly face that some of your kids’ souls are literally dying for.

You are the one person in someone’s life that is the only stability he or she has. You are the role model, the example, the kind heart, the soft voice who whispers ‘I believe in you’ when everyone else is screaming ‘You aren’t worth it!’

You are molding a little PERSON.

Think about that. A person.

Because that is what we do. We take little people and grow them into big people and successful people and kind people and committed people. We show them they are strong. We show them enthusiasm. We show them love. Especially the ones who are difficult to love. Imagine what THAT home life must be like.

No matter what kind of day you have, no matter what lesson plan might not have turned out the way you planned, always remember that as long as you are the light in the lives of your little people, they will remember that, and they in turn will find their light and begin to shine.

And we all know that even the darkest dark can’t hide the smallest of lights.

And thanks to state departments all over, we are all able to say we have twenty-five, thirty, thirty-five little lights in our classrooms that we help shine.

Never give up. Always remember even the dimmest of light makes a huge impression in the world of darkness.

YOU are teaching little PEOPLE.[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]

Paula has a Masters degree in education with an emphasis on child development and child behavior....

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