Read Across America

Recently I participated in an event called Read Across America. It was two of the most enjoyable days of the school year so far. I experienced a certain joy that you don’t get in everyday life. In one of my previous posts I mentioned rewarding experiences. This was one of them. When I heard we were going to participate in Read Across America I was ecstatic and as the date grew closer, I got more and more excited. The first day of the two day event finally came and I swear I was more excited than the kids were. In my mind I knew for two days I get to be surrounded by classmates, friends, books, games, little kids, and bright colors. What could be more fun? To look on a surface level I was able to enjoy the two days as just a fun event. On a deeper level it was so much more than that. I decided that all of my joy and energy are going to go into trying to make these two days really fun and impressionable for these kindergartners, even if they barely remember it later in life. I was pleasantly surprised at how much these kids look up to us, that each time they succeeded in something little, or did something we didn’t expect, they looked back for praise. It was nice these kids had pride in what they were capable of.

 I got the opportunity to spend my two days with three different kids; three completely different children, but equally wonderful. The first kid was energetic, friendly, and a little more on the independent side. He was reading to me and showing me how clever he was. He was definitely and kid who was bold and stood his ground. My second kindergartner was a little girl who was bit mellower, but was bubbly, honest, and loved to show me the little things she was interested in. She had brought a magnifying glass with her and was sometimes a little more interested in that than the actual activity in front of her. The last kid I had the pleasure of having as my buddy was a little boy. He was very quiet, but not shy. It took him a little to open up, but he did eventually. He was smart and calm, he took joy in little things like completing connect the dots or beating me in tic-tac-toe. A theme I noticed was my heart swelled each time they smiled at me and wanted to tell me their favorite color or wanted a high five after not losing in Dr. Seuss says. I found this rewarding feeling in the fact that I was trying my best to make these days fun for these kids, and hopefully they weren’t lying when they told me they did. At the end of the second day I found myself a little sad that it was over, but I had a new revelation. This is what I wanted to do. I decided definitely I wanted to work with kids. I have always wanted to work with kids and be some form of counselor or teacher since I was in kindergarten, but until that moment I didn’t know if I really would be able to. I was speaking to my math teacher on the first day and was telling how happy, rewarding, and surprising it was to know how much these kids know, how much they wanted to show us. He says that’s how he feels every day and right then I thought to myself this is why I want to be a teacher, this is what I want to do. To actually follow through and become a teacher is only for me to find out in the future, but for right now it’s definitely in the cards. Read Across America may have just been a festivity to some, but for me it was a very defining moment.