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I want to share with you my experience reading a post written by a teacher. I find this post very exciting and touching.

Surprisingly, the teacher who wrote the post has the same name as I have.

The teacher describes the most significant lesson in his life in 15 years and this is what he says-

Towards the middle of the year teachers are asked to write assessments for each child. 

The teacher offered the children an exercise to write an assessment about themselves in the third person. He asked them to write at least one page, and only good things. They began to argue with him. "I do not have anything to write" "I'm willing to write only one line" "Where do I know what to write”.

They began to squirm. They began throwing into the air all sorts of positive judgments in a dismissive and cynical tone. The teacher began to think that perhaps he was offering them something bigger. Or maybe it's an exercise that gets them bored. And he almost gave up. Then he realized he had two voices. One voice who knows this is a formative exercise. An exercise that he wishes he could have done when he was a child. An exercise that can enable them to experience something that may be possible only when they reach a workshop at the age of 40. An exercise that will break the wall of self-image based on external approval.

The second voice in him was the voice of an ego that was afraid it was boring. Afraid that he will not be able to attract their positive attention. A voice that suggested that he should do something else with them, something "more fun."

He knew instinctively that their reaction was due to embarrassment. But the little boy in him, afraid of being bored, almost gave up the exercise. As soon as he caught these two voices inside him, he stopped. He felt a deep pain in his little boy who did not hear how amazing, beautiful, wise, successful and loved he was in such a way that it would convince him for the rest of his life.it was a pain that the child in him could not believe what good things are said about him also today as a grown up.

The teacher insisted and said - “You are about to receive the greatest gift I can give you this year ... Look how absurd this is! I suggest you to write about yourself good things, and you argue with me that you do not want to. Do you get what's going on here??? "

The students fell silent. He shared this is what he felt. He told them about the little boy inside him who is seeking external validation, because there is no voice in him that plays him what he so longs to hear. No one has trained him to talk about the best in him. He told them that he was a footballer who was physically excellent, but he had an inner voice that he always felt was not good, so he retired at a young age.

 It was the sound of a wound that goes through deep healing. They were silent. One of them insisted that he would not do this exercise. And folded the page. The teacher told him that he could write ten full pages about him, how smart and sensitive he was and how successful he was during the year and a half they’d known him. The student looked at him with a look of” I can’t let myself believe you.”

 One girl said she would write, but it's very hard for her because immediately she had the voices of others who would tell her she was arrogant. He offered her a point of view on why. He said that maybe those who tell her she is arrogant feel difficulty and there is nothing wrong with telling the truth. On the contrary, we owe ourselves this truth. She watched and there was a small smile of understanding.

The teacher insisted that everyone writes and they started doing that. Some had difficulties so the teacher and the rest of the class gave them compliments.

One student wrote only 3 lines so the teacher completed his assessment. The teacher said many good things and the other students added other compliments. This student started crying silently after those warm words.

 Another boy just wrote- “I AM A BOY WHO…” so the students completed his words. The child’s eyes sparkled with joy and happiness. Eventually everyone happily talked while standing on a chair. Every time someone read about himself or herself the whole class cheered and everyone was very excited.

This exercise illustrated what we sometimes forget. The children’s self-image is a direct outcome of what we- adults, tell them about themselves. Therefore, it’s crucial for us to build up the children’s self-image by teaching them to be aware of their strengths and uniqueness.

What are your thoughts on this?