Storytime: My Favorite Teaching Moment

There have been many moments in my career that will always be special to me. However, like most teachers I'm sure, there is one special moment that will stay with me forever. We place a lot of value on high-stakes tests here in the United States. Regrettably, I was conditioned and trained to put all of my value as a teacher into how well my students performed on their tests. (I've since evolved and learned better. But that's a story for another blog.)

It's always been important to me that my students feel prepared for their state tests, which still remains a priority for me. I do my part, and they do theirs. Above all, I never want to put them in any situation where they feel like I let them down. So, every year, I work hard to make sure my students are prepared.

It was May in my 4th year of teaching at a low-opportunity school. It was also testing season, so my nerves were an absolute mess. This was a particularly difficult year for me as I had taken on so many responsibilities and my own personal health was being sacrificed as a result. I was pulling all-nighters at least once a week just to be able to keep up with the workload. (Again, another flaw from early in my career.) Outside of teaching during a pandemic, it was the most difficult year of my career. As a result, I'm now that teacher that ducks and dodges even the slightest mention of supervising any kind of extracurricular activity or committee in school. I firmly believe that the service I gave during my 4th year of teaching was enough to last my entire career. I digress though; back to the story.

My students had taken their state exams and we were all eagerly waiting for the results. Okay, it was just me. I was eagerly awaiting the results. Even though I've learned that there are so many other factors outside of my teaching that influence student performance on state exams, I still like to be able to see fruit from my labor.

I remember it as if it were just yesterday. My instructional coach walked into my room and handed me my students' results. She was so straight-faced. She didn't say anything, just handed me the papers, turned, and walked out of my classroom. I prepared myself for the worst. "It's been a tough year, so don't be too hard on yourself," I started reassuring myself. I started thumbing through the papers and skimming over the scores. I couldn't believe it!

Over 98% of my students passed! While I understand that this is probably a common occurrence for teachers at high-opportunity schools, this isn't typically the case at low-opportunity schools. I was so ecstatic I ran to my instructional coach and asked her, "Did you look at these scores?!" "Yes," she finally cracked a smile.

While that is a great part of the story, it's not the best part. It was time for me to share my students' scores with them. I remember the class being jammed with wall-to-wall students because that's what we do in education for some reason. I stood in front of my class with their scores in my hand and announced, "I'm just going to tell you guys how you did all at one time, so I don't have to do it individually." The discomfort in the room started to grow; I could feel it. My plan was working. Finally, one brave student said, "Wait. Miss Missie? You're going to tell us our scores in front of the whole class?" Without even hesitating I replied, "Yes." Now they're starting to whisper to each other. Their brows furrowed. "Is she allowed to do that? Why would she do that," I hear them saying to each other under their breath? Then a different student, "No Miss Missie, just take us in the hallway and tell us one by one." You see, not performing well academically was what they had grown to expect. They were used to not "meeting the marks" created by politicians and "educational leaders," and they didn't need me announcing that in front of the entire class. I knew they wouldn't like that, which is precisely why I set them up for this moment right here, "No. I don't want to take you out in the hallway. That's going to take too long and it's so much easier for me to just tell you guys at one time that YOU! ALL! PASSED!" They sat there quieter than they had been all year. I'm a teacher so I can recognize when the brain is trying to process information. So, I remained quiet as well and just let them process. And then I said it again, "Yes, that's right. Everybody in here passed the test." Slowly, they erupted into this wave of cheering and celebration. I just stood there smiling and proud.

Seeing my students going wild in the classroom about their own academic performance was the most satisfying moment for me as a teacher. Watching them bask in the warmth of their inherent worthiness will always be one of the greatest moments of my career.