As a teacher, I get the opportunity to reach out and touch the lives of my students. There are times that you come across a student that touches your life more then you do theirs. This is the case for a little girl that was in our school's Kindergarten department last year. For security purposes, I am going to call this little five year old, Rose. Rose was not in my Kindergarten class, she was in one of the other classrooms. This little girl had blond curly hair with big blue eyes. Her eyes were filled with love of learning and life. She was one of those students that you would walk by the classroom and you would see up running around and always being stimulated. Rose knew no stranger. Everyone that came into her path became her friend and she cared and loved them.
When Rose was a baby she was diagnosed with a heart condition. Rose knew about her heart condition, but she did not allow it to handicap her. She lived every moment of life to the fullest. On several occasions she would express to the teachers that she would have very detailed dreams. She would then go into details about heaven and the angles. She would tell the teachers that the angels are always around her and she knows that she will not live a long life.
Well last week I had received a text message asking me to be praying, because Rose had fallen off of a swing and was knocked unconscious. A few hours later I had found out that little six year old Rose had passed away. This had hit me by surprise. I knew life was short and I knew that it could be our time anytime, but I was not prepared for it to be this First graders time. Rose had lived six years and she lived those six years to the fullest. Her life had helped me to realize how important Early Childhood Education really is. The only education that Rose was able to experience was Pre-Kindergarten to First grade. After I found out about her death I had to sit down and think long and hard about the way I teach. Do I teach my students like this could be their last lesson? I am doing everything that I can to give them the best education possible? Her life may have been short, but her impact on my life will be forever. I hope that through her story, you might see how important it is to teach those little ones with a heart full of love, compassion, patience, and forgiveness, because I know that her story changed me.
Sorry to hear about your student! As educators, we have the ability to change the way things are. We have to become a role model for the children. Children always observe how we relate with other adults and children. If we act selfishly, the children also think that they should act in that manner. From a child’s earliest years, conflict happen. Conflicts arise among children just as they do among adults. Undeniably, they are sometimes forgotten almost immediately, but some children will hold onto conflict. As educators, we can help children to learn forgiveness, patience and compassion by incorporating these values in our lesson plans. Piaget, a major child development psychologist, spoke about cooperative play and parallel play, and the valuable lessons that children learn from engaging in such activities.
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