My Breakthrough Moment

My first year teaching in a public school was an eye opener.  I was used to great parent support, and kind of a la la world of teaching.  Then I came to the real world, public school.  I had the lowest level kindergarten class of the four, the most behavior problems and one child who only spoke chinese.  This little girl had only been in the US for a couple months before school started.  In the beginning I didn't know what to do.  I couldn't understand her and she couldn't understand me.  Throughout the year she and I started pointing at things to communicate, then I began naming everything she pointed to and I pointed to.  Low and behold my little non english speaking girl began saying words around the middle of the year.  After Chrsitmas break I really started working with her and by the time she left kindergarten, she was at the benchmark level, which is the highest level and she was able to hold a conversation in english.  That situation really made me see how much I really cared for children and this profession.  This was my breakthrough moment.