All the best writings come in trilogies, right? And here is the conclusion of my struggle with the celebration jar. If you missed the first two installments about my struggle you can read about them here: Part 1 and Part 2
I opened it about six weeks ago. It was early February, and I finally felt confident enough to face what I knew would be painful memories in that jar. Husband and I sat down on a Saturday morning and pulled the strips out of the jar, one by one, taking turns to read them and talk about what happened.
I did more talking than he did.
We split the strips into three piles as we read their contents: Family Joys, Lottery Fortune, and Teaching Moments. There were 29 slips in the jar, and there was a fairly even split between the three piles. Ten family joys, twelve lottery fortunes and seven teaching moments.
While I thought I would be most upset by the teaching moments, they only brought me a smile and chuckle. Yes, I was a little sad about not teaching as I read them, but they were a great reminder of why I love teaching. Even the slip about "It's not as bad as last year" didn't bother me as much as I thought it would.
There were a couple of real successes in there. For instance, one student stood up to the class bully and told the bully that what they had just said violated our classroom rule of respecting others. It was one of my proudest moments. I had spent weeks reminding our students that we are all responsible for the society within our class. Whenever someone had said something outside the realm of respectful to or towards another classmate, I had to restate our class rules and remind everyone we are all in this class together. When I heard it come out of a student's mouth, I knew I was making a difference.
There were lessons that went incredibly well! Better than I could have hoped. When teaching students about the Battle of Marathon, I spontaneously split the class into Athenians and Persians, formed an Athenian phalanx and had them reenact the battle. They were talking about it in the hall with the other 7th grade team later. When the Friday quiz came up, every single student knew what a phalanx was and why it worked.
Family Joys brought some chuckles to Husband and I. There were little (or huge) things to be thankful for, like with all the snowstorms we had that year, we didn't lose power once!
The Little Man loves to put coins in the donation game at the supermarket. It's one of those games where you drop the coin through a chute and it rolls around and around faster and faster until it drops into the bin. I never have cash on me, not even coins. A man walked by us at the coin game, and handed The Little Man a handful of coins to put in the game. I had forgotten all about that incident until I read it in the jar. And it was truly a Celebration Jar moment.
At the end of the day, I was glad I opened the jar and read through the moments in there. Husband and I laughed, and I cried a little. I'm a sensitive sort sometimes. But they were all good memories and they mattered.
This year's jar is underway. I'm sure the December 31, 2014 jar opening will be a celebration that lives up the title of Celebration Jar.
I opened it about six weeks ago. It was early February, and I finally felt confident enough to face what I knew would be painful memories in that jar. Husband and I sat down on a Saturday morning and pulled the strips out of the jar, one by one, taking turns to read them and talk about what happened.
I did more talking than he did.
We split the strips into three piles as we read their contents: Family Joys, Lottery Fortune, and Teaching Moments. There were 29 slips in the jar, and there was a fairly even split between the three piles. Ten family joys, twelve lottery fortunes and seven teaching moments.
While I thought I would be most upset by the teaching moments, they only brought me a smile and chuckle. Yes, I was a little sad about not teaching as I read them, but they were a great reminder of why I love teaching. Even the slip about "It's not as bad as last year" didn't bother me as much as I thought it would.
There were a couple of real successes in there. For instance, one student stood up to the class bully and told the bully that what they had just said violated our classroom rule of respecting others. It was one of my proudest moments. I had spent weeks reminding our students that we are all responsible for the society within our class. Whenever someone had said something outside the realm of respectful to or towards another classmate, I had to restate our class rules and remind everyone we are all in this class together. When I heard it come out of a student's mouth, I knew I was making a difference.
There were lessons that went incredibly well! Better than I could have hoped. When teaching students about the Battle of Marathon, I spontaneously split the class into Athenians and Persians, formed an Athenian phalanx and had them reenact the battle. They were talking about it in the hall with the other 7th grade team later. When the Friday quiz came up, every single student knew what a phalanx was and why it worked.
Family Joys brought some chuckles to Husband and I. There were little (or huge) things to be thankful for, like with all the snowstorms we had that year, we didn't lose power once!
The Little Man loves to put coins in the donation game at the supermarket. It's one of those games where you drop the coin through a chute and it rolls around and around faster and faster until it drops into the bin. I never have cash on me, not even coins. A man walked by us at the coin game, and handed The Little Man a handful of coins to put in the game. I had forgotten all about that incident until I read it in the jar. And it was truly a Celebration Jar moment.
At the end of the day, I was glad I opened the jar and read through the moments in there. Husband and I laughed, and I cried a little. I'm a sensitive sort sometimes. But they were all good memories and they mattered.
This year's jar is underway. I'm sure the December 31, 2014 jar opening will be a celebration that lives up the title of Celebration Jar.