"Welcoming Window in Waterville, Ireland, oil on Beligan linen, by Roxanne Steed

Teaching Journal

Day 94, Thursday, February 12

 

     Today I noticed that the boy who was the “teacher’s assistant” in his class thoroughly enjoyed himself. He was a keen and eager assistant right from the start. I was sitting at the teacher’s place when he entered the room, and he immediately came and stood quietly beside me, as if to graciously suggest that I should move aside. I dutifully moved to a quiet corner of the room while the students gathered to do a little silent reading, and, a few minutes later, right on time, the boy softly touched the chimes that hang above my desk to indicate that the reading period was over. He then, without delay, and with an authoritative voice, began going over the first steps in my lesson plan. He was brisk, commanding, and professional about it, and in a matter of moments he turned the class over to me for the heart of the lesson. I could see a smile on his face as he walked away from the teacher’s place – a smile of self-assurance and satisfaction. He knew he had done something noteworthy. In a dignified and stalwart manner, he had led – actually taught -- his classmates for a few moments, and in doing so had climbed a few more steps up from childhood.