Today, one of my classes was all on time and they all wrote for the five minute write period we have every day at the beginning of class. They didn’t talk, they didn’t make silly faces at each other, they didn’t even really go on their phones. Then they actually talked about the topic with me in a thoughtful way. I actually almost teared up a little.

I finished grading a class set of essays today. One of my students who has been struggling mightily totally nailed this essay. I think I’m going to call his mom tomorrow to tell her how awesome he did.

One of my students is writing an essay about a Ta-Nehisi Coates article. She came in during flex time to work on it with me. She was so thoughtful.

Another student who sometimes has trouble getting to school shared her research outline with me about the effects of population growth. It was thoughtful and interesting. One of her points was about resource scarcity, and I asked if she had heard about what’s going on in Cape Town with the water supply. She hadn’t, but her uncle lives in Cape Town. She read about it for the next 15 minutes and then asked if she could do more research for that part of her essay.

A student who had been failing came through with a missing essay and worked with me on writing a beautiful conclusion for her next essay. She is passing now.

Another student who has been slow to warm asked me for some personal advice about a problem with a friend. I feel like I helped, and he was grateful just to talk about it.

In another student’s daily writing notebook that I graded today, he wrote that English is his favorite class because he has so many thoughts and writing is such a great way to get them out. This is a kid who was initially less-than-pleased to be in a writing class; he told me early on that writing wasn’t a strength for him and that he is slow.

Every day I leave school worried about my students and worried that I am not doing enough or that I could be doing better or whatever. I had moments today that made me feel angry, frustrated, annoyed, and disappointed, just like I do every day. I think if most teachers were honest, they would agree that these emotions are part of the job sometimes, and we handle them as they come.

Every day, though, there are small victories. Today was a good day.