Magic

By Erin Warburton, Elementary School Representative

Every teacher should teach Grade One at least once in your career. I guarantee that your self-esteem will never be higher. When you are the Grade One teacher, your students believe that you hung the moon and sprinkled the stars in the sky; you can do no wrong. No matter what your appearance or temperament, they will declare you to be the most beautiful/handsome and nicest teacher in the whole world. It doesn’t matter that they have only their Kindergarten teacher to compare you to, and it also doesn’t matter that last year they felt the Kindergarten teacher was the most beautiful/handsome and nicest. You are their teacher now, and you are it for them, at least until next year.

One day, three of my little girls got into a bit of an argument, trying to see who could pay me the greatest compliment. Really, I wanted to get on with the math lesson, but instead witnessed this exchange:

Ivy: You look pretty today, Ms. Warburton.

Me: Thank you, Ivy. You look pretty too.

Jessie: You look very pretty today, Ms. Warburton.

Me: That’s very kind, Jessie. You look pretty too.

Ivy: You look very, very pretty.

Jessie: You look very, very, very, very pretty.

Ivy: You are the prettiest lady in the world.

Jessie: You are the prettiest lady in the universe.

The argument could have gone on for a long time, but Harman stepped in and settled it most emphatically: “Ms. Warburton, you’re more beautiful than Barbie”. I assure you that I am not really that good looking, and certainly not up to Barbie’s standards, but I must admit to enjoying the compliments.

Another great thing about Grade 1 is how much fun you have teaching. Learning to count is exciting, and getting to one hundred is so thrilling it must be celebrated. The one-hundredth day of school is a smorgasbord of games, crafts, and amusing activities, all with valid educational outcomes. Remember, many six year olds believe that one hundred is the highest number out there; the absolute pinnacle of numeration. Counting that high is an exhausting, exhilarating experience.

Science also presents many opportunities for fantastic learning. I’ll never forget one magical lesson during the Colour unit. I gathered the children on the carpet in front of me and held up ordinary red paint, and ordinary yellow paint. I mixed them together before their very eyes and POOF! Orange paint appeared out of nowhere! There were gasps of amazement, proclamations (once again) of my amazing teaching prowess, excited hand clapping and cheering. Similar reactions occurred when mixing red and blue, and blue and yellow. An even greater experience followed when the students got to mix colors themselves and realized that they, too, had the magic.

I should point out that Grade One is not all fun and good times. There are many challenges and heavy responsibilities that go along with the job. The amount of preparation work is massive. The children are extremely dependent on the teacher and require help for things like shoe tying, pencil sharpening, coat fastening, book finding, and snack package opening. As the teacher, you are responsible for much more than teaching, and must ensure that the children wear their coats in cool weather, have a healthy snack to eat, have friends to play with, and are picked up safely after school. One of the hardest parts of being a Grade One teacher is realizing that a student is struggling in school, and having to tell their parents that their perfect child just may not be. The children need constant and close supervision, have short attention spans, and require all of your energy.

Despite all these duties, it remains a privilege to teach Grade One. It is an absolute joy to see those shiny, smiling, six-year old faces. They give you their best efforts and they think that school is the greatest thing going because they haven’t learned any differently. Their energy and willingness to please bubbles out of them. When they go away to gym for half an hour, they greet you upon returning with enthusiastic hugs and gap-toothed smiles, as though you have just returned from a long and treacherous journey and they feared that they would never see you again. If you are out on playground supervision, they will sprint towards you, hoping to hold your hand as you make the rounds. You are the recipient of colourful artwork, of handmade cards, of “Best Teacher” valentines and coffee mugs.

I will never forget Peter, a special little guy who will always hold a place in my heart. He was very bright but would often dawdle and avoid work. When gym or recess time rolled around, he would look at me and say, “I didn’t finish my work. I guess I have to stay here with you and do it, right?” The hope in his eyes was obvious. While I don’t usually like to retain children from such important things as recess and gym, I knew Peter needed a little individual attention. Once it was “just us”, he would sail through his work, and beam when I praised his abilities. Throughout that year, we worked on helping him getting his work done in class, and I made a point of giving him a little extra attention. Such connections with students make teaching so enjoyable!

Far and away, though, the thing that keeps Grade One teachers coming back, year after year, is the progress. I don’t think that students will ever demonstrate as much progress in any other year than they do in Grade One. They start reading very simple patterned books, and have improved perhaps 15 reading levels by June. They go from counting on fingers to counting by ones, twos, fives and tens, to one hundred and beyond. They start off working on their printing skills and copying simple phrases, and are publishing whole stories by year’s end. The pace of their learning is breathtaking, and it is thrilling to watch them develop confidence, poise, strategies, and skills.

As teachers, we often get caught up in paperwork, meetings, regulations, marking, supervision, and a myriad of other responsibilities. We sometimes forget why we became teachers, and lose sight of the joy of being an educator. I promise you, though, that spending time in a Grade One classroom will remind you of what an honour it is to teach.

A certain world-famous theme park markets itself as “The Happiest Place on Earth”. I am lucky to have visited there, and yes, I did have a good time. But I assure you of this: no ride, no attraction, no carnival game, no mascot could ever compare to the joy that abounds in Grade One. I would take Grade One over Disneyland any day.