Little Notes

Little notes from my students inevitably make me smile. Some are humorous, some are expressions of love, and some, like this one, are gratitude.

I have a 4th grade girl who works her heart out and always tries her hardest. But she makes many mistakes despite that great work ethic, more than the other kids do. She'd scored a 60% on her Daily Language Arts assignment this week, and I did not have the heart to write that big letter D on the paper. So, I just wrote the percentage.

Since she cares about her work and how she is doing, she approached me and asked what letter grade that 60% had earned her. Her eyes filled with tears when I gently told her that it was a D and that I had not put it on there because I knew she had worked so hard and would be disappointed.

I decided then and there to give her a second chance to do better, and told her that she could make some corrections. Using a green pen, I wrote, "Second Chance" on it with two hearts and told her that she could fix any errors and hand it in the next day.

She did, and she added her own note to me:

This is one of the many reasons I love being a teacher.