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The Powerful Moments of Your Lives, Distilled

We invite teachers to share their triumphs and frustrations, the hilarious or absurd moments of their lives, in no more than 100 words.

For more Tiny Teaching Stories, click here.

To submit your own story, click here.

It was my first year at a new school, and when I thought I had exhausted every ounce of myself, I lost my voice.

I wrote on the board:

鈥淗i. My voice is terrible, please read the additional instructions for today.鈥�

(I grabbed some copies before the bell rang.)

I return to find:

*One student holding the door open and welcoming each student in, and giving a compliment, 鈥渂ecause you do that for us.鈥�

*The word 鈥渢errible鈥� replaced with 鈥渨onderful鈥� and a number of other positive comments.

*All students asking to do my job.

Students notice us; EVERYTHING SPEAKS.

Kirby Schmidt
Grades 7-12 agriscience
Deer River, Minn.

Quan arrived at my 1st grade classroom daily with his fast-food breakfast and sat in the back. As tall as a middle schooler, and as street-smart as an adult, he came to us recognizing only one word: his name.

I tried dozens of reading strategies with him over a few months, including writing songs and jump-roping to the alphabet. When I met his mother to discuss Quan鈥檚 educational path, she said he鈥檇 stepped off a bus in his neighborhood recently, and the children asked where he鈥檇 been. He proudly responded, 鈥淚 go to a school that teaches you to read.鈥�

Kathryn Starke
K-5 literacy
Richmond, Va.

Her wink gave her away. For three weeks, I鈥檇 started class with a poem, selected to demonstrate the power of language.

I invited my students to share their own or others鈥� poems. Few did. But someone was leaving poems taped to my door, each mysteriously signed, 鈥淪tudent of 2020.鈥� Clipped from magazines, found online, or in books, each poem spoke to her鈥攁nd to us鈥攁bout the many ways words can soar or sing when shared.

We didn鈥檛 use them for evaluation or outcomes, but for the love of words. And now I knew who it was leaving me poems.

Glen Young
12th grade English
Petoskey, Mich.

Teachers CAN survive and thrive after an awful first year. I wasn鈥檛 anonymous in the small Nebraska town where I began teaching, so students could easily make harassing phone calls, steal things from my mailbox, and vandalize my car. I didn鈥檛 get enough support from my overwhelmed first-year principal, but I should have reached out to other people, too.

A year ago, as I was planning to retire, a student from that first year sent me a Facebook message apologizing for the 鈥渂ullies鈥� in the school. I鈥檓 glad I didn鈥檛 let that awful first year drive me from the profession.

Barbara Gottschalk
K-5 English as a Second Language
Troy, Mich.

I鈥檓 outside walking around on recess duty and two little girls I don鈥檛 know come up and give me a hug.

Girl 1: Mr. Gerber, give me knuckles.

We fist bump.

Girl 1: You look like my Grandpa Murray.

Me: He must be really handsome.

Girl 1: No, he鈥檚 just really old.

Girl 2: You don鈥檛 look like my Grandpa Smith, but he鈥檚 really old, too.

OUCH.

Larry Gerber
5th grade
Cody, Wyo.

About This Project

Teachers鈥� lives are packed with powerful moments: moments of triumph, frustration, absurdity, joy, revelation, and hilarity. We want to hear about them. Submit your Tiny Teaching Story, in no more than 100 words, here.