An 11-Year-Old Told Me I Was Her Best Friend Last Week

Before leaving school on Friday, one of my 6th graders told me I was her best friend.

Earlier on Friday, I was aggravated with some of my students because they struggled on a ten question quiz that I thought would be easy. Cue: (teacher voice) "We went over this, guys! There's no reason why you can't do this."

Earlier on Thursday, I was upset by the fact that a couple of my students didn't complete their project that they had a month to work on.

But on Friday, a little girl told me I was her best friend.

Me.

It's so easy for teachers to get wrapped up in the negatives. If there were 19 kids who got an A on a test, I promise we will go home wondering why number 20 couldn't do the same. We will fixate on it and needless to say, our blood pressure will rise. Maybe it's that we think we can never do enough, in our minds at least. Or maybe it's just human nature to focus on the negative instead of the positive. We need to change this way of thinking.

We are enough. We are making a difference. Whether it's on one girl or an entire class, teachers are forever remembered for our impact. We need to focus on the good instead of the bad and realize that it is a privilege to be able to influence so many people every single day.