Crayons - Who doesn't know that the start of the school year is also the start of a new box of crayons? I love that fresh box of crayons with all of the colors. The box of 24 was the one that most students could afford and the most practical.
What I did not know when I started teaching was that there were going to be so many decisions about crayons. This is something that I do not ever remember being addressed in college.
So here are the things to think about for those of you who are entering the elementary classroom as a teacher for the first time.
1. What do you do when the tip of the crayon is gone?
2. Should you tear off the paper?
3. What happens when you break your crayons?
4. What do you do when one of the students sharpens a crayon in the pencil sharpener?
5. What do you do when someone comes to school with the box of 64 crayons? Do the crayons have to go      home?
6. Do you let them color with the side of the crayon?
7. What do you when the crayons get all mixed up?
8. Is it okay to bring your iron to school to melt the crayons to make stained glass windows?
9. Do you have to buy a new box of crayons if you one?
10.What do you do when the student brings the box of 128 crayons?

These are the basic questions about crayons. These questions make sense even though they do not address them in college. But one question that I remember about crayons had more to do with coloring.

During the 1973 - 74 school year, I taught at a private special education school in Dallas, Angels Inc. I had 9 students in my class. Their ages ranged from 3 - 9, but for the most part they functioned like they were 1 or 2 years old. My Aide and I had our hands full. But I loved it because these children wanted to learn no matter what we tried to teach them. We finger-painted, pounded blocks, played scooters in the yard, and, yes, we colored. Our exciting days occurred when the children actually colored the pictures that we had made for them. Anytime this occurred,  we celebrated by putting their papers on the wall.

Like any other school we had open house. When the parents came to the classroom, these parents got to see what every other parent saw in their child's classroom --- papers that their child had completed. The night of our open house, we were also visited by school board members. That night, one of the school board members asked me why I had put this scribbling on the wall. Why hadn't the children colored in the lines?

I was appalled by the question. I would have thought that a board member would have more knowledge about the abilities of these students. This was a great accomplishment for each of them --- they had held crayons, they had gotten the crayon on the paper, they had followed directions, they had sat in a chair to complete the work, and so on. I was proud of them. We celebrated. And the more we celebrated, the more that they accomplished. I knew that they would never be able to live independently, but they did understand when they accomplished something. That year they accomplished many things --- including stealing my heart!

Remember to celebrate the small accomplishments of all of your students --- the more you celebrate, the greater are your rewards!