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A Few Memorable Moments

A friend asked me today about the most dramatic experience I've had as a teacher. While not all dramatic, these six events are a small part of the memories I've garnered over the years. There are others.

1. I have only had to break up one fight, and it was between girls who were pulling at each other's hair.

2. The first time I had to speak at an eighth-grade promotion was surreal, to say the least. My voice was the only sound amid hundreds of parents, significant others, students, staff, and administrators.

3. I did not realize that I had to deliver a speech I had written for a student at one eighth-grade promotion. As a result, I did not have the speech in hand as we prepared to walk the students into the ceremony. While students were about to walk, I raced back to my classroom, opened my e-mail "Sent" folder to retrieve the speech I had the sent my colleague, printed it, and returned to sit down in front of the crowd with my colleagues. I delivered the speech less that fifteen minutes later.

4. A fire ignited on the wall of a colleague's classroom.

5. I learned that a student decided to become a writer because of my class.

6. In my first year, before we had an online gradebook, my colleague and I stayed at school until after 11:00 P.M to finish report cards.

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