Proud Teaching Moment

Today’s blog entry is a two-part story that started last Wednesday during ESP (homeroom) in the morning and finished during 7th period at the end of the day. During ESP, one of my girls blurted something out that she shouldn’t have (probably a crass word or something insulting about someone else), and when I corrected her, I said, “You need to use your internal filter!”
She got this funny look on her face and asked what a filter was. Before I could answer her, she went on to say that Mr. Drama Teacher and Mrs. PE Teacher had both told her the same thing before – that she needs a filter. I explained that an internal filter is something inside your head that stops you from blurting out everything you think. I told her not everything in her mind is meant to be said out loud, and that she needs to stop and think to herself, “If I say this out loud, what will happen? Will I get in trouble? Will someone be offended?” The confused look on her face cleared up and she said, “OH… so that’s why my other teachers told me that.” Then she paused… and said, “I don’t have one of those filter things.” I laughed and told her that was the problem and that, for lots of people, filters are something they have to practice in order to develop them inside their brains. She agreed and said, “Yeah, I could really use one of those.” It was a funny conversation, with a “life lesson” sort of tone to it.

Skip ahead to 7th period…

In Language Arts today we talked about the four types of conflict in literature: person vs. person, person vs. nature, person vs. society, and person vs. self. My kids were supposed to practice identifying each of these types of conflict in the story we read together, and then they had to find examples from their own reading books. When we started talking about person vs. self, I explained that sometimes people struggle to make a decision or argue with themselves inside their own heads about what they should do or say… and that is considered a person vs. self conflict. All of a sudden, my ESP girl with no filter raised her hand and had a really intense look on her face. She was so excited about her example! She waited until I was able to call on her, and then she said, “A filter! Person vs. self is like a filter! I don’t have that conflict, but I need to!” I asked her some questions to help her explain the rest to the class. She did such a great job. She talked about how sometimes internal conflict can help you make the right decision instead of just plowing ahead and getting in trouble. It was fantastic! Moments like that are why we do this job.