I took muffins to a class this morning, which I wouldn't even consider doing if there were 200 or 100 or 40 or 20 students enrolled in the class, but with only 10 students, why not give them a treat?
And they deserved it. They've been doing great work all semester, and I have come to admire the way they support each other in times of need: studying together, sharing a granola bar with the classmate who's skipped breakfast, waking up the classmate who accidentally set her alarm for p.m. instead of a.m., and so much more. When one of them gives a class presentation, the others don't just sit there looking bored but they take notes and ask good questions, and last week they were doing peer review on a set of drafts and one of the students called out, "Hey everyone, listen to this great sentence!" And that's when I thought I ought to take them a treat.
Today turned out to be a great day to start off with muffins because they were all going to the same exam after my class so they'd been studying instead of eating breakfast. We spent our time reviewing concepts for the exam they'll take in my class on Friday, and when a student asked me to explain a particular concept again, I said, "Who would like to try to draw that on the board?" And one of them jumped right up and did it. Did a fine job, too.
I can't remember the last time a class worked together so cohesively, taking responsibility for their own learning but willing to support one another in the process. They've even gone so far as to call out a classmate who wasn't performing up to the class's high standards, exercising the type of peer pressure that pushes everyone to improve.
That's the kind of class that makes me happy, so why not return the favor? If we can all sit in a classroom happily eating muffins while discussing great literature, good has been done here.
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