A Special Challenge
I have been visiting classes recently, as I do throughout the year. I typically pop in for 15-minute class visits and then follow up with the teacher for a conversation. Those conversations let me offer kudos, think with the teacher about an area where they would like to grow, and hear more about what they are doing with their students. During one of these meetings, a math teacher told me this story. At the end of a recent class, he offered his students a special challenge: to work up a proof of the concept they had talked through in Calculus that day. He told me with pride that a student came back shortly thereafter with a proof she had done at home. Rather than reviewing it with her one-on-one, he created time during the next class for her to present her proof to her classmates, which she did beautifully. At the close of her presentation, he suggested a tweak that would make her excellent proof more elegant.
I love that this is a place where students embrace a challenge like this, not for a grade or extra credit, but for the love of learning. It is a gift to have teachers who offer students opportunities to stretch and who celebrate them when they do. And it is a sign of respect between teachers and students that, even when a student is going above and beyond, the teacher makes further suggestions for growth. I am deeply grateful to spend my days with such wonderful students and teachers.