3 Lessons From A 5th Grade Student

I'm sitting here thinking back on my six weeks as a 5th grade teacher and realizing the fact that I came into my classroom thinking that I would teach them, but instead they taught me so many valuable life lessons. Although these next three lessons may not be the most valuable lessons learned, they will be the most memorable and always bring a smile to my face.

1. Sometimes, Life Is Just a Struggle...Embrace It:

There are certain jobs throughout the day that the students get assigned to weekly. One of these jobs includes cleaning up their table at the end of lunch every day. 

One day during lunch I brought the broom up to the student with this job and told him to make sure he didn't forget to clean (He always "conveniently" forgot about this job whenever it came time to clean up) When I said this to him, he looked at me with the most distraught face and complained, 

"Oh but Ms. Dews! I just hate brooming."

Me: "I know buddy, I understand. I hate sponging as well...but it's just one of those things that we have to do...Just like penciling or penning. " Which he responded with a very confused expression and proceeded with his "brooming".

2. If All Else Fails, Laugh At Yourself:
While teaching at TCPS we had a week that was dedicated to science.

Let's just clarify here for a moment: my major emphasis is math, not science.

On Wednesday of science week we had the middle grade science teacher come to 5th grade and dissect frogs with the class. Why we thought this was a good idea, don't ask me... 5th graders with scissors, a dead animal, and the freedom to do whatever they wanted with those two items. YOU do the math.

By the end of this session I was already feeling slightly sick from the smell and guts of 24 frogs all over the table. As we were wrapping up this dissection one of my students found eggs in the belly of his frog and proceeded to proudly show them to me JUST as his friend was ripping the legs off of his frog while dancing it around his plate. I was done. I threw up in front of my students and if that situation wasn't bad enough, I was being observed just ten minutes later by my university supervisor. 

It was in this moment that you realize you only have two options: curl up and cry in the corner or laugh at yourself and let the students make fun of you. I chose the second option. To this day I still receive pictures and even made up songs of me throwing up. However, I will say, at least I will always be remembered by them, even if it is being remembered as the student teacher that threw up.

3. You Can't Assume:
I learned very quickly that one cannot just assumed about a situation. Usually whatever I, as the teacher was assuming, was the complete opposite of what actually happened.

During a math lesson one morning one of my sweet little girls came up with a worried expression on her face. I saw her jacket pocket was wet and assumed that she had dropped water on the jacket. I actually told her to sit down until the lesson was over. When I turned back around and realized she had still not sat down and her expression turned from worried to horrified, I told the class to work on the next problem in their books as I tried helping her.

I very quickly came to find out, as she pulled her hand out of her pocket with yellow slime dripping off, that the assumed "water" on her jacket was in fact an smashed egg dripped through her pocket. She proceeded to tell me that she had helped her mom gather the chicken eggs that morning and must have forgotten an egg in her pocket. So yes, as the teacher of that classroom, I had to take her jacket and clean out the smashed egg, shells and all. Never have I touched so much slimy raw egg before with my bare hands, but needless to say, I had oatmeal for breakfast the rest of that week.



Life is made up of little lessons. Take time to find these lessons that you are supposed to learn each day.