Dead flowers and a bundle of sticks

October 19, 2010 Moot Points by Kim Baile

September has come and gone and so has some of the stress caused by integrating a new group of kindergarten students into the school environment.

During the first days of school, my students’ faces run the gamut of emotions—from being overjoyed to be starting school to pure panic that their moms have left them with an unfamiliar woman. After everything settles down, though, nothing compares with kindergarteners’ enthusiasm and eagerness to learn. They quickly memorize routines and make progress in all areas of the program. It is a joy to be with them, and if teaching students were the only job requirement, teaching would be the best job available. Unfortunately, along with teaching comes all the paperwork.

Every fall, I’m overwhelmed with completing IPPs, year plans, Professional Growth Plans, speech forms, goal sheets, student interest surveys and so on. One day, though, this past September when I was particularly bombarded, I received a wonderful gift. At recess, a student I taught last year told me she had a present for me. She arrived at my doorway later in the day with her younger sister in tow and presented me with a bouquet of dead flowers and a bundle of sticks tied with a gold ribbon. The girls were proud of their gifts and wanted me to smell the flowers. I thanked them and hugged them, and they ran off to the playground. Their mother stopped by to apologize, but there was no need. They had actually made my day. I returned to my paper blizzard with a smile on my face from the ­knowledge that doing paperwork is a means to an end. If I complete the ­paperwork, I get to spend my days with wonderful and thoughtful kids doing the only job I ever wanted to do—teach!

Kim Baile teaches kindergarten at Oriole Park School, in Red Deer. She is a past contributor to Moot Points.

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