As I pondered my sleeping 8-year-olds the other night, it struck me how very much like babies they still were, despite their apparently growing social maturity during daylight hours. I also considered the fact that I would be teaching grade three once again this year, essentially the same grade my own children would be in. Did I realise last year how very young and fragile my students were? Comparing them to my sleeping babies was a real wake up call (no pun intended).
Conversely, as I recalled my own childhood, and the particular emotional turmoil I myself was going through at that age (we were in the midst of a MAJOR family trauma at the time, and school was my “escape” from the harsh reality at home), I realised that Grade 3 students are also at an age there they can think deeply about considerably complex concepts. Despite their childishness, they have the capacity for an emotional maturity – depending on their life circumstances – that is frighteningly deep.
Had I given my own grade 3s last year enough credit, I wondered, for the sort of emotionally challenging demons they might be wrestling with, even while they were still, in so many ways, such babies?
Grade three students are truly in the midst of the incredible years, soaking up new ideas and information, and, in most cases, finally having enough vocabulary to express considerable opinions about these ideas. It will be an interesting challenge as I strive to teach them from 8:30 to 3:30, and parent them 5 – 8 p.m. each day this year!
Conversely, as I recalled my own childhood, and the particular emotional turmoil I myself was going through at that age (we were in the midst of a MAJOR family trauma at the time, and school was my “escape” from the harsh reality at home), I realised that Grade 3 students are also at an age there they can think deeply about considerably complex concepts. Despite their childishness, they have the capacity for an emotional maturity – depending on their life circumstances – that is frighteningly deep.
Had I given my own grade 3s last year enough credit, I wondered, for the sort of emotionally challenging demons they might be wrestling with, even while they were still, in so many ways, such babies?
Grade three students are truly in the midst of the incredible years, soaking up new ideas and information, and, in most cases, finally having enough vocabulary to express considerable opinions about these ideas. It will be an interesting challenge as I strive to teach them from 8:30 to 3:30, and parent them 5 – 8 p.m. each day this year!
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