Every year, I wait for the moment when my students begin to interact together as one team.  I get excited when they begin coming to each other’s side to support and work together toward the goal.  I love when students are no longer afraid of looking “silly” or “dumb” in front of each other.  It is a magical moment and one I do not take for granted.  I realize that getting my students to genuinely care about each other is not something that just happens.  Coaching my team of students to care about each other is the part of my job that I take the most seriously.

This past week I was lucky enough to observe glimmers of hope that my students were learning to care about each other as people and learners.  Here are two pictures that I captured during a math lesson:

In the first picture you see a student at the board sharing her work.  This seems typical. However, this is a student who entered my classroom with little to no math self-confidence.  This picture does not show the hard work and persistence that she has demonstrated over our past few months together.  It does not show that she volunteered to go the board because she wanted to share her strategy.  It does not show that her classmates complimented her on her accuracy and strong thinking.  And it does not show the smile that was across her face when she sat back down.  The team was proud of her.  And the team has shown her that she can be vulnerable, and they will still support her.

The second picture looks like three boys gathered around each other, presumably socializing.  Again, this seems typical.  However, the student sitting down admitted aloud to the class that he had a different answer from everyone else and he couldn’t find his mistake.  The two boys standing rushed to his side to help him figure it out.  They walked through the problem with him trying to help him learn from his mistake.  The team rallied around their perplexed teammate.  And the team helped their member catch up and learn from an error in way that made him feel good about himself.

As their coach, of course I was proud.  You hope that your students will be kind.  You hope they will care about each other.  You hope that they will offer help and assistance to peers without being asked.  And when it happens, you stand back and smile because it is magical.

This level of trust, support, compassion, and camaraderie does not happen over night.  It also does not happen without your guidance, constant coaching, and supervision.  Every year, I have to remind myself it is worth the effort. Learning is about academics, but is also about caring for people.  Learning is a team sport where the skills and the sportsmanship matter.

This is an October 2015 post from Kato Nims’s blog, Colorful Learning. Kato is a learner and creator who is blessed to call teaching her job.

This past Thursday, I sat in the audience of Trinity School’s Sixth Grade’s 2013 performance of the H.M.S. Pinafore.  As Buttercup, played by one of my former Fourth Grade students, beautifully sashayed onto stage, tears formed in my eyes at the sight of the wonderful actress before me.  Buttercup was poised, confident, and exuding joy, qualities I would not have used to describe her two short years ago.  I couldn’t help but note the great leaps Buttercup had made since she was last in my classroom.

While the H.M.S. Pinafore sailed on, my mind continued to wander at the thoughts of the tremendous growth I was observing in the talented Buttercup.  I began to realize that, really, Buttercup did grow in poise, confidence, and joy while in Fourth Grade, but only in baby steps.  Could it be possible that Buttercup never actually leaped confidently on to stage last Thursday, but had taken several dozen baby steps over the course of two years, preparing her for her day in the spotlight?

This idea of “baby steps”  started my mind in motion.  So many times in our lives we expect ourselves to take great leaps in order to productively and successfully move forward.  Great leaps can be dangerous.  We fall too hard, we get too scared, we learn too little, or we take too much for granted.  What if instead of trying to leap as far as we can, we decided to take just a baby step forward…A baby step towards exercising, a baby step towards being more understanding, a baby step towards learning how to use social media, a baby step towards learning a new skill?

I believe that the baby steps Buttercup made in her career at Trinity would be deemed by anyone who ever taught her as more than successful progress.  In two years’ time, I hope that we, as a community, can also say, “We’ve made dozens of baby steps, and we moved ourselves forward successfully.”

Learner, Thinker, Writer, and a baby stepper: Kato Nims serves the Trinity School Community as a Fourth Grade Lead Teacher.