Happy St. Patrick's Day

Every once in awhile, something happens that reminds me why I like this job of mine. And usually, 90% of the time, that reminder comes from a 10-year-old. Kids are really pretty simple and innocent when it comes right down to it (even the low-socioeconomic, minority children attending an urban district like mine). Not all, mind you, but most.

This past Friday was our last day of school before our highly-anticipated spring break. But, before we could get on with the day at hand, my class and I had to have an official ceremonial observance of St. Patrick's Day. The holiday, unfortunately for the kids, falls in the middle of spring break week (which is a big plus for this green-beer-drinking blogger, I might add). We had discussed the week prior that Friday, March 9th, would be our official "observance". Of course, I had slept since then and had no recollection of the discussion. But, kids: They may not remember the difference between finding the area of a rectangle and finding the perimeter of a rectangle, but they will remember the revised St. Patrick's Day observance date.

The very first thing in the morning, I had kids pinching each other and trying to pinch me. Thankfully, they were kind enough to give me a warning and some grace time to see if I could find anything green to attach to my body. I finally found a green overhead pen and made a few green marks on my hand to stop the pinching attempts. It was a nice little bonding moment with these kids.

I haven't had too many moments like that this year. I blame that on the ridiculous first-semester-1-hour block schedule that we had in place. It was assembly-line education. I didn't get to interact with these kids on anything more than a formal level. There wasn't any time for nonsensical stuff like an early St. Patrick's Day observance. If I deviated from my plans even just a little, the "brains" on the assembly line would pass me by without getting the "parts" that they needed, like in that famous "I Love Lucy" episode. I'd eventually end up shoving "brains" down the wayside or putting them in my pocket or down my shirt, like a zombie trying to horde his food for later consumption.

They are just kids. Sometimes it is so easy to lose sight of that when your so busy trying to cram all the stuff that they "need" to know inside those little heads in one hour's time. And sometimes, they need something other than what is written in the district's curriculum planning guide. Sometimes they just need to be kids.