You're a Good Teacher!

Yesterday I walked into my first hour class, Pre-Algebra a little late (whoops!). At least I'm not really student teaching in that class so I wasn't late to teaching, just to observing. Still I've been getting lax in being on time, which is not good. Anyways, so I walk in and as I'm coming in the door, a group of students look at me and point and say, "There she is!" I'm thinking, this is strange... What's up? This class is normally very passive in the mornings, and while I've taught them before, I don't feel a very strong connection to this class. One of the girls in the groups says, "We want you to teach today!" I ask "Why?" Mr. Collins says they want to trade me for him. The same girl says, "Because you're a good teacher!" What? Where did that come from? I didn't know they really even paid any attention to me. It made me feel good to think that they think I'm a good teacher. They probably just like a change from the norm, but still it was nice to hear. I also think that middle schoolers see through teachers pretty well, so I take it as quite a compliment that they think I'm a good teacher. This is one of those things you store away to recall when there's no feedback or you feel like things aren't going well at all.