The Happy/Positive Teachers Thread

This forum and TES always seem such depressing reading for future hopeful teachers I was hoping to start a thread where all teachers (trainee and experienced!) could share any positive/happy stories from their teaching lives.
Any little moments that made you realise why you went into teaching/made you love the job?

Hoping this thread won’t die a quick death or just be swamped with negativity and cynicism – there are plenty of threads here for that!

So; teachers – who has any positive stories to start off with? :smile:

Reply 1

myrtille

Original post by magic_box

There are always positives, it's just sometimes hard to remember them with all the other stuff going on.

OK, here goes...

•

My bottom set Year 10 class who used to be horrible are getting so much better. The other day I had to nip out of the room for a minute and one of them commented "Miss, do you actually trust us enough to leave the room?" and I realised that at the moment I do! A couple of months ago when I left the room, I came in to find all the chairs and tables turned over, but this time I came back in and they were sitting quietly getting on!

•

I did a great "reading relay" activitity on Monday where pupils had to answer questions about a text in teams - when they gave me their answer to Q1 I would give them Q2 on a new slip of paper and so on. Worked really well, they enjoyed it and worked hard.

•

My Year 7s are absolutely fantastic.

•

There's always something ssilly that a kid has said or done to keep us laughing. This week's highlights - a Y10 who wrote "draguer les filles" (to chat up girls) as "droguer les filles" (to drug girls) and a Year 7 who wrote "une enervante" (an annoying) instead of "une etagere" (a bookcase) in a spelling test.

Reply 2

Mr M

Study Forum Helper

Original post by myrtille

The other day I had to nip out of the room for a minute and one of them commented "Miss, do you actually trust us enough to leave the room?" and I realised that at the moment I do!

Negativity spoiler:

Spoiler

Reply 3

El Salvador

Yesterday I found that a student who's been misbehaving and rude cared a lot about being able to read faster and more books than his classmates.

Reply 4

myrtille

Original post by Mr M

Negativity spoiler:

Spoiler

Seriously?
I've never come across a teacher who doesn't leave the room occasionally during lessons, for example to get some paper from the department office or to borrow something from a colleague. Or what about it a violent incident was already occurring - I'd have to leave to go and phone the behaviour team.

Reply 5

Mr M

Study Forum Helper

Original post by myrtille

Seriously. In the incident you describe you must immediately intervene to safeguard the welfare of the children concerned. You would send other children to get help.

Reply 6

TraineeLynsey

Back on the positivity train!

Had an awesome science lesson yesterday, which was observed. Children loved it, produced good work and even a child who, in the previous lesson, had been misbehaving and moody (the teen years are approaching!) was engaged and focussed on the task.

Happy day!

Reply 7

Mr M

Study Forum Helper

I made a colleague happy by grading their Performance Management observation outstanding yesterday. It really was a pleasure to see them in action.

Reply 8

El Salvador

1. Today my fourth graders asked me, with enthusiasm, if we would be doing the proofreading game again.
2. Today I found that they like English classes around 15% more than a few weeks ago.
3. Today they were very excited and happy when I used President Obama's visit schedule as an example. Someone was like, was that real. I was like, yeah. He was like, how do you know. I was like, hmm you've got the internet.
4. Today a student who's been misbehaving answered questions with enthusiasm and paid attention.

Reply 9

Shatners bassoon

Positivity:

Today, for a grand total of 4 hours of me being the centre of attention in a room while kids mostly got on with their work (and thats my busiest day) i got, after i deduct tax,rent,bills etc about 50 quid spending money. A bottle of decent red costs 10, and i have a job that lets me leave early enough to enjoy said bottle while the sun lasts on my balcony. Bliss

Also, 13-18 weeks holiday (depending on your school). I mean i know its nice when you get through to the kids and that, but seriously, the holidays really are the best!

Reply 10

myrtille

It didn't take long for this thread to sink down to the 2nd page of the forum!

Today's positive was being able to tell a number of Year 10 pupils who resat their controlled assessments yesterday their results. One had moved from an A to a very high A*, another had moved from an E to a B, another from an E to a C and they were very happy. A few others stayed put on Cs and Ds which was a shame, but at least they didn't get worse.

And on a lighter note, my Y10 all-boys class (who decided last lesson that they could literally translate "amazeballs" as "etonner-balles") told me that I was "etonner-balles". I'm not entirely sure why, but oh well!

Reply 11

magic_box

Glad to see some positivity :smile:

I'll join in to keep us afloat, even if I'm just a TA for now...

This week a year 11 boy was complaining of the usual "Why do I have to do RE, it's useless" etc. I went over to him and explained ways the skills he learns in RE can be used in other subjects (essay structure for English as an example) and he told me he'd never thought of it that way before, seemed quite amazed at the idea and went on to get an A in his assessment.

A year 7 pupil I work with knocked on the staff room door at lunchtime to give me a handmade birthday card which said I am "the best teacher ever." It made my day :smile:

Reply 12

freida20

I visited a school and saw 3 amazing RE lessons - well planned and interesting - I wanted to put my hand up and join in with the discussions that the pupils were having! They were all engaged and enthusiastic. Frankly I was waiting to be impressed but I was just amazed and it made me even more enthusiastic and keen myself!

Reply 13

freida20

Original post by magic_box

Glad to see some positivity :smile:

This week a year 11 boy was complaining of the usual "Why do I have to do RE, it's useless" etc. I went over to him and explained ways the skills he learns in RE can be used in other subjects (essay structure for English as an example) and he told me he'd never thought of it that way before, seemed quite amazed at the idea and went on to get an A in his assessment.

I love RE - it is so relevant to so many future career possibilities

anyone that works with the public - shops, banks, managers, teachers, doctors, nurses, police, military, are going to benefit from having understanding of cultural and religious differences and careers such as police and medical profession from having the ability to emphathise through having studied ethics.

Anyone who wants to travel - as an aid worker, flight attendant, cruise liner worker, diplomat - would also benefit from cultural and religious understanding.

and like you say if you wanted to follow an academic route it gives an excellent grounding in enquiry and investigation, critical analysis and all that!