All in a Days Work…

One of the dreaded duties of the teacher is the lunch duty. While it’s something that needs to be done, it’s not always the family favorite. It’s loud, crowded, and oh yeah LOUD!  Kids take this lunch time and free socialization seriously. What table you sit at determines everything. At a certain point in middle school, they are learning how to manage the freedom they are given during their lunch time. They get a taste of freedom and begin to run with it. Inevitably they have to be reined in. 

No, not many enjoy lunch duty, however, joining Patty Smallwood (the 6th grade Science teacher) on her day came with a few perks. One, you NEVER had to worry about what the kids would do when Mrs. Smallwood is present. She monitored that lunchroom with a watchful eye. Nothing was going to go down on her watch. 

At a certain point in the lunch period, when the kids were finished eating, and now had time to plot their prank on the table next to them (or across the room), she would begin to walk the lunchroom. She would pace the floor, up and down the rows of tables, looking at the floor around the tables, underneath each table and generally at what the kids were doing.  They knew she expected certain behaviors. You had to be pretty brave to pull one over on Mrs. Smallwood and trust me, many a brave soldier had tried and failed.

Another perk of sharing this duty with Mrs. Smallwood; you could always count on her for a sarcastic remark, (always appropriately placed of course). The kids loved her for her wit and humor. One fine day during the lunch duty, the warden started her rounds. Pacing her usual pace, with her no-nonsense stare and her eagle eye.

All of the sudden, Coby Pishner, a 6^th grade student walked up behind her, arms folded, head bobbing to and fro, glancing right and glancing left, in perfect rhythm with Mrs. Smallwood. This scene played out like sheriff Andy Taylor, and his deputy Barnie Fife. He walked behind Mrs. Smallwood step by step, following her every move, head held high, eyes peering down upon the lowly subjects. Coby had been deputized and licensed to stare.

Now for the record, Coby Pishner was a fun-loving kid, well-liked by teachers and peers, as well as a good academic student. In no way was Coby trying to disrespect Mrs. Smallwood. I knew in this moment just how much Patty Smallwood meant to him and so many others. Imitation truly was flattering as they say.

It struck me that the respect which this beloved teacher held in this student’s eyes was indicative of what she had instilled into him and each of her students. You see Patty Smallwood worked every minute of every day, determined to hold a standard herself, which she was giving her students.

From being early to work, to grading, to classroom management and academic standards, she didn’t just command respect from her students. She worked for it. 

She was committed to follow each thing she expected of her student, from no eating during class time, to no cell phones in class. She taught with excellence, passion, and conviction of the field she studied. She not only taught the information given to her to teach; she taught a love of science. She loved her field, she loved her kids, and they respected her for it. 

They respected her standard of excellence, and standard of treatment, and fairness with which she handled each situation. It was not only flattery which Coby Pishner demonstrated; it was love for a teacher who is a rare breed these days. You will be hard pressed to find another one like her.                                                                                                                                                             

You see, one of the hardest things to do as a teacher is to manage correcting our students appropriately. Many times, like parenthood, you may get it wrong. Some will be quick to make it right and admit they were wrong. Some will hold to a value that the teacher is always right, and “I’m to be respected regardless of whether I’m right or wrong”.  But Patty Smallwood did something that not every teacher does. She never expected any level of work or excellence she wasn’t willing to put in herself.  When I look at the love the students had for this veteran teacher, she didn’t come in demanding their respect, she earned it fair and square.

Truly, it’s in the little things we do, like monitoring a lunchroom and maintaining an atmosphere where kids feel safe. It’s in the small things like respecting your own rule to not eat during class. It’s in the follow through of doing what you say and doing it with love. When love is the guiding factor, we will always be in the right. To walk the line of maintaining discipline and loving our students is to have the acrobatic skill of a tight rope walker. Somehow warden Smallwood did just that.

Friends, as busy as our world gets, both personally or professionally, it can feel like our kids don’t seem to care about anything we do. I, as the teacher, don’t mean much in the grand scheme of things in a kid’s world today. But no matter what you think, our kids are watching what we say and what we do when we think they don’t notice. I realized while watching this 6th grade student, that the kids really are watching. And dear teacher, they look up to you.

I continually run into former students who will tell me what they are doing presently. “I’m in the military now,” one student said, proudly. “I’m going into nursing,” another announced without hesitation. Some tell me about children they now have (along with a picture if they have it to show). Actually, most of those I meet tell me with pride their most recent accomplishment. Why? Why do they care if I know how successful they are in their lives? Simple, they care what WE their teacher think about them, and they care about our approval, whether they show it or not. Yes, they care immensely what you think about them and how you view them. For all the Mrs. Smallwood’s out there, it’s in the small things, even lunch duty. 

“Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might:” Ecclesiastes 9:10 (NKJV)

THANKS FOR READING TODAY’S BLOG.
Do you have story of sincere flattery in your teaching career? If so tell us about it. Leave us a comment.

TO RECIEVE MORE BLOGS LIKE THIS ONE, SUBSCRIBE TO THE LINK BELOW.

*All names used in this blog have been preauthorized by the individual, and parental guardians (IF STUDENT).