I was looking for an activity to do with my Emergent Literacy class-- one that would demonstrate teaching the alphabet to kinesthetic learners, i.e., kids who learn by touch. Sometimes it's best to have the students actually do the activity instead of listening to me talk. So in Walgreen's, I found some 10-packs of playdough-- just right for a group project. At the checkout, a man with scruffy beard was buying up boxes of leftover valentine candy. He inquired what I planned to do with all that playdough, and I told him. He seemed to understand. He asked if teachers get reimbursed for this stuff. Are you kidding?
So then he picked up all my playdough and paid for it before I could stop him. Told me he really appreciates what teachers do. Even gave me a box of his Valentine candy, which I'll share with my students. It was such an unusual thing. I felt like I'd just met an angel, but he's actually a student nurse at Milligan College.
