Lessons I Learned in Fourth Grade

Let's be honest. I should be shampooing the carpet, mopping, doing the dishes, doing the laundry, packing boxes for moving, getting the house ready for sale, mowing the lawn (yep—it's that time of year again), or walking the dogs. Yeah.... I'll pass. Instead, I thought I'd actually give myself a minute to sit and reflect on a few things as I get ready to wrap up another phase of my life.

I'm leaving my school at the end of this year, and—perhaps—leaving the teaching profession entirely. It's a heartbreaking and, unfortunately, common decision that 40%-50% of teachers make within the first five years of teaching. In about a month, the last bell will ring on the last day of school, and I'll be left with an uncertain future and a whole lot of empty space that used to be filled by fourth graders.

Don't get me wrong, though. I love teaching. I love my students, my kids. I worry about them. I cry for them. I wake up in the middle of the night, sometimes, to pray for them. I watch the cartoons and movies they tell me to so that we'll have something to talk about. I go to their soccer games and choir concerts. I spend my free-time thinking of ways to make my lessons more interesting or better or more effective. In some cases, I make sure they have food to eat and clothes to wear. I get angry when others hurt them. I find indescribable joy in their successes. I wish I could do more.

While I may not, exactly, know what the next chapter of my life may hold, I look back on this last chapter and realize—with deep gratitude—that I needed to be here. Even with as difficult as it was. Maybe I needed to be here for my kids, but, deep down, I know that it's really them who needed to be there for me. Through teaching them, I found that I taught myself a lot of important things too. We learned together. While I know other similar lists have been composed, I thought I'd share with you a list that's been years in the making. Lessons I shared with my students and, in turn, shared with myself.

Lessons I Learned in Fourth Grade:

• Learn from mistakes. It's a great way to grow.
• No one gets the right answer all of the time. Not even the teacher.
• It's best to forgive others, even if they don't deserve it.
• We will never regret doing or saying something kind.
• We will always regret—someday—doing or saying something unkind.
• If someone else makes poor choices, it's not an excuse for us to make poor choices too.
• It's better to live in truth alone than to live in lies surrounded by false friends.
• Everyone can do hard things.
• No one is beyond hope.
• What you think about yourself is more important than what others think about you.
• Beautiful things can come from the ugliest places.
• Small acts of goodness counteract grand acts of cruelty.
• It's better to have a good heart than a smart brain.
• Everyone is important. Everyone has a job to do. Everyone.
• No one is good at everything, but everyone is good at something.
• Everyone has potential to do great things, but it's up to the individual to decide if they'll live up to that potential.
• The best way to be happy is to help others be happy.
• If we don't share what's bothering us, then the problem might not get fixed. Communication is important in fixing bad situations.
• Respect is a two-way street.
• We should always show gratitude when others give something to us, even if it's something we don't like or don't want. Every gift should be treated as a treasure.
• One doesn't always have the power to change their circumstances, but they do have the power to change the way they see their circumstances.
• Life isn't fair, but we should still try to be.
• Always try to be a good example—you never know who's watching.
• Anyone can make good choices when others are watching or when they know they'll be rewarded. A truly good and exceptional person makes the right choices, even when no one is watching and no rewards given. We should do the right things for the right reasons.
• It's OK to ask for help.
• Be patient with others, because you never know what challenges they have to face.
• The right choice isn't always the easiest choice.
• Acquaintances will come and go, but true friendships endure the test of time.
• You don't have to be friends with everyone, but you do need to be polite to everyone.
• If we don't like where we come from, then it's our job to work hard for something better. That way, we don't have to stay in that situation forever.
• The flower that blooms in adversity is the most rare and beautiful of all. (Totally stole that one from Mulan.)
• Somehow, someday everything will be all right.
• Listen to all sides of a story before passing judgment.
• Everyone feels sadness, anger, anxiety, and jealousy; however, our negative emotions shouldn't dictate our actions. We should be in charge of our emotions. Our emotions shouldn't be in charge of us.
• It's important to have a sense of humor.
• No one wakes up in the morning hoping to be treated poorly that day.
• Any dream that helps others is worth pursuing. Even the dreams that seem impossible.
• When our plans fall through, it's OK to be flexible. Because most plans fall through. Plan A is, very rarely, the plan that happens.
• When bad things happen to us, we can either get bitter, or we can get better.
• The way we present ourselves on the outside isn't as important as the way we present ourselves on the inside.
• Knowledge doesn't always bring power, but it does bring sense of accomplishment and progress. It's fun to learn new things.
• We can't fix every problem in the world, but we can fix some of them.
• People are more important than things.
• A child is worth every effort and every sacrifice.

My world is a better place because of what I learned in fourth grade.