My teaching partners and I take different rotations for PE each day.
My focus is on developing the kids' cardio-respiratory endurance. Right now, we're working on jogging without stopping for 2 minutes, and it's HARD for the kids.
I asked them to encourage classmates who they see struggling. As I said to them, anyone can run past a person having a hard time, but a special person cheers them on.
We started the jog, and pretty quickly Marcus started struggling. He's a sweet kid, but life is not easy for him. He's not a fan of PE, not super popular with the other kids and not always willing to push himself in anything.
Nathaniel, a freckle-faced little guy, jogged up next to him when he saw him huffing and puffing.
He put his hand on Marcus' back and said, "You can do it, Buddy. Let's do it together!"
Nathaniel jogged next to Marcus the rest of the time, keeping his hand on his back and cheering him on. It was amazing to watch.
That afternoon I got to do what we teachers do not often have a chance to do. I got to write a note to parents letting them know what a terrific son they have raised.
And I recognized that I need to be more like Nathaniel.
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