What makes your day joyful with your class? Maybe it’s the light bulb moments in learning. That moment when you see the big ‘Aha!’ look on a child’s face and their hard work has paid off; the returned assignment, the understood math question, the moment that they find a book they truly love.
These feel like big momentous moments, as an educator. I can remember meticulously planning lessons and the excitement I felt when the students were engaged and their projects were completed. Seeing learning in action, I felt so proud of their hard work!
Recently I ran into one of my former students who is now in grade twelve. He was all smiles while we talked together about his future plans, what he was up to now, and his parents. When I asked him what he remembered most about grade four all those years ago, he named emotions. He always felt happy and remembered that I smiled every day. He reminded me that we had a lot of fun, though he didn’t remember the name of the books we read or the projects we did. He remembered laughing together and assemblies and that school felt like a place he belonged.
That conversation shifted my perspective.
While I remembered the year through the lens of curriculum, instructional strategies, and professional growth, he remembered something entirely different: a collection of small moments that made him feel happy, welcomed, and connected.
Sometimes the big things for students aren’t the things educators are assessing. They might actually be the small things that matter most; shared experiences, laughter, an encouraging smile. These tiny moments of joy help to balance the challenging moments of learning and can leave a lasting impression of what it’s like to build a community where we all belong.
As I reflect on where I find joy with students, I realize that it is often found in these small, everyday interactions. As an educator my focus is on curriculum and learning, but joy is not only in the big achievements and academic breakthroughs. It lives in the relationships we build and the moments we share. It lives in conversations and shared stories, caring for and about each other. It lives in all the small actions to let students know that we show up for them every day. This year, I will add to my list of joyful moments in the classroom, widening my lens of what joy looks like from the student perspective.
What would be on your list of tiny moments of joy? What do you think your students would say?
