Strength in Numbers

Let's begin with the cold hard facts: 

'08-'09 school year: 24-25 3rd grade students**

'09-'10 school year: 18 1st grade students

'10-'11 school year: 24 3rd grade students

'11-'12 school year: 11 2nd grade students

I'll elaborate:

It's barely the second day of school, but having fewer students makes a world of difference. Of course, there's the obvious benefits:

• Increased one-on-one attention from me
• Less "traffic" in the classroom
• Decreased noise level 
• Fewer issues among students
• Family-like atmosphere

All of these benefits are wonderful, but expected. What I didn't expect, was the following:

I am a different teacher--already.

I'm experiencing a calm that I've never felt before. This calm allows me to enjoy special moments that I'd otherwise try to stifle with larger groups. It's okay if my students laugh gigantic belly laughs, and I join in with them, because we're not operating on the "mob mentality" that comes with a class of 25. We'll settle down soon enough. 

I'm relaxed enough to appreciate movement in the classroom. I don't feel the need to keep everyone in his or her seat so as not to disturb or distract others. That means if one 2nd grader needs to get a pencil, another needs another sheet of paper, and one needs to blow his nose, they can be responsible for taking care of business. I'm not running around finding a pencil, paper, tissue, and trashcan. This frees me up to do the one thing I really love to do: teach. 

So now that I'm getting to actually teach, I can't even describe the surge of confidence I get from working with my new students. I feel stronger than ever as a teacher. I'm not constantly pulling from my teacher "bag of tricks" to quiet the room down or keep all 25 students on-task. I can appreciate unique personalities in the classroom, revel in the organic nature of the educational process, and smile at the small things. And this, this is why I became a teacher. 

It's only the beginning, friends! 

**This year I did not end the year with the same 25 children I began with. Students withdrew, were unfortunately deported to their home countries, left for weeks at a time, enrolled mid-year, etc.