Pride and teaching

Pride is an amazing thing. It can be considered a negative aspect of a personality yet we operate off of it in every day life. Had we no pride we would not conceive of keeping ourselves presentable or striving to go anywhere in life. A certain amount of pride, an amount that I do not know, is needed to not only succeed but simply to maintain every day life. I have had very few people tell me that they are proud of me in my life, and as unfortunate as that seems, just think about it for a while; how many times has someone said the exact phrase “I am proud of you” to you during your years? My guess is not as many as most deserve. Teaching has taught me the amazing things that people, especially young people, are capable of. Children are so wonderfully bright and engaging, they are absorbent, almost to a fault and never cease to stun me with their abilities and thoughts. Observing a seventh grade art class is something I believe everyone should experience at least once in life. A 13-year-old goes about everything with such gusto and pride, such fervor and passion; it leaves me quite exhausted just watching them. Even the way in which they interact is fascinating, every movement is so carefree, they never think about where their body is or where their hands and feet are placed. Always it is movement on impulse, action out of habit and inclination. I am starting to think that this is why young teenagers eat so much and are so clumsy. The amount of movement that the average 13 year old performs in a single minute can exceed many adults action for a whole hour. I suppose all children are like this though, movement without thought and impulsive limb motion with no thought involved. I am starting to love teaching the younger grades, seventh especially, for they are marvelously talented and intelligent, I feel that my mentality fits with them much better than any other grade and I am keen on finding out how well I will like elementary school.