The Dead fishy

This morning was my first experience of going to mass with my Grade 3 class. The bus ride to the church was very loud and stressful, because Grade 3's plus a bus, add in a few bumps and tight turns = fun for them but work for teachers. I had to constantly ensure that the children sat in their seats and stopped leaning over chairs to hit one another, but after a few disciplinary measures we finally got to the church.

The mass went well and the children behaved and sang the Hymns and all seemed to be going well until one of my students got my attention to tell me that another girl in the class was in tears. I worked my way over to her and found out that she was crying because her pet fish had died some time ago and the experience of church, God and Heaven tended to bring back the memories of her cherished pet. I almost did not know what to do, so I comforted her for a bit until she let me know that her grandmother was actually at the mass and she asked to sit with her. My associate allowed it and the little girl was comforted for the rest of the service.

This experience was an eye opener for myself because, I have had many pet fish die, and other kinds of pets run away or die and I have never responded in that manner. However, this experience has helped me grow more as a professional because I see the diversity in the class in terms of how students may respond to similar events in their life, as well as being aware to the sensitivity of students towards certain issues, such as dying pets.

Church was quite the experience today and I am glad that it happend. The bus ride back to the school was even better because we had to stop really quick for a light and students pretended to fly out of their seats. This event took up most of the morning and gave me another example of events that may occur that change your daily lesson plans as well. I hope everyone enjoys the read and I also hope that none of your young students ever go through the loss of a loved one, pet or family, because it has as big of an impact on you as a teacher as it does on them as a student. Again, the event has led to my further development as a primary teacher and I have now become more aware of the necessity to consider how students may respond to certain events in the classroom before I allow them to happen.