Teenage Pride

I've read about ways to get your students to take pride in your classroom. I've walked into other classrooms, with all the clutter threatening to fall over and maim a poor freshmen, and wondered how anything got done at all.

Now I am not a neat person by character. I'm spending my day off catching up on housework that I have put off since July. (I was busy!) But I try to keep the majority of my classroom fairly wide and open. Only my desk bears the brunt of my pack-ratish self.

But I was still surprised by what happened Friday in class.

We do breakfast in the classroom during first period. It has turned into a time for SSR as well, which the literacy coach in me screams out that that is SO WRONG. But I'm making it work. We have a separate trash bag for breakfast trash so that it doesn't sit in the room all day. Friday, someone put their milk in the bag and it started leaking. One of my girls in the class pointed it out, and then immediately moved to put the trash can under the bag. Smart girl! I was impressed enough then.

But that wasn't all.

I left the room to get some paper towels to mop up the milk. I was gone for all of 30 seconds. By the time I came back, she'd cleaned it up already. She grabbed a clorox wipe from the top of the file cabinet and wiped up all traces of the milk.

Wow.

They tell you to build a community in your classroom so that students will take pride in it. I've tried to build a community and I've tried to make my classroom a welcoming place. This young lady showed more pride in her school and in our room than I have ever seen exhibited before. I was awestruck.

Needless to say, Friday was pretty good.