Celebrate Success

Who was more nervous, me or my students? I was out of sorts this morning when I pictured my first presenters getting ready for school, full of angst about standing before their peers to deliver a personal speech. Each one of my 120 13-year-olds are now engaged in this endeavor, and even though this is my second year in, when a student asked, "Why?" during homeroom, part of me wanted to ditch it all. 

One of my quietest girls, whose voice seems to have grown softer over the few months, looked so lovely in her speech attire when she walked through the door, but when I asked her how she felt about speaking that day, she almost burst into tears. Who knew she would step away from the podium when it was show time and project a confident voice in a tone I had yet to hear until now?

Another student revealed her reluctance to the project last Friday in one word: "Phobia," she said. Oh dear, aside from my cheerful words that were met by her blinking eyes and some gentle comments on her Google doc, I wasn't sure what to do. Turns out, I wasn't holding the hammer after all. She nailed her own performance with dissenting, but humorous, opinion about optimism. Her audience didn't just laugh and applaud, but they even thanked her for her honesty. 

What other gifts will tomorrow bring?