Saturday 14 June 2008

Why would I want to work with children?

I don't consider myself to be fantastic at working with kids, or perhaps even passionate about it to the exclusion of all else. Everyone knows it can be a real headache at times, but then there are those occasions where it's pure pleasure to have the honoured privilege of working with these young individuals. They have such a different way of seeing the world, and the most disarming sense of humour at times. Check this out...

A grade four student, reading the staff room duty roster attached to my work folder, thought he was very clever to discover my first name.

"Is your first name Steffanie?" he asked somewhat cheekily.

"Yes," I answered, and left it at that, which for some reason he interpreted as displeasure.

"Aw, don't be embarrassed," he continued, "My first name's Tom, you know."

Having taught him for six months, I was fully aware of both his first and last names, and could only smile at the complete randomness of such a comment. It makes me wonder at how they come up with these things.

Please note, in all anecdotes students' names have been changed for anonymity.

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