Come look at this! or, the soul of a teacher, part II

In Journalism, you're told not to use exclamation points. Among the Heritage Media Staff, we've discussed it and actually joked about its use at editorial meetings.

So when I exchange emails with a school teacher to schedule an interview or to ask or answer a question, I'm often tickled by the number of exclamation points that are used. In one recent note from a teacher, I counted six exclamation points after a single sentence. Six! (oops.)

Now, this Edgemont teacher had recently been nominated for teacher of the year for the third time. Committed, passionate, driven: you can see it in her writing.

Yesterday, I figured out why. Teachers spend much of each day working with children to see that they grasp concepts and facts. It's a little like my teaching my grandson Noah how to throw or catch a ball.

It is amazing the sophistication of motor skills required to do that. Adults have long since taken it for granted in their lives, but try to teach it to a two-year-old and you begin to understand. The act of releasing the ball at the right time as it's being thrown is not automatic. It needs to be taught, and teaching takes patience and commitment.

It also takes a bit of faith. You're taking a leap that your student will get it: that he will understand the point, will enjoy it, will release the ball at the right time. For the longest time, Noah would would reach behind himself, ball in hand, and as his arm whipped forward to throw the ball, he would open his hand prematurely and release the ball behind his head. It was pretty comical, but puzzling. I mean, c'mon! You're two years old, already!

I realized recently that teachers do this all day long, for several hours each day, with about 30 different children. Some of the stuff surely is rote, a reinforcement of what most have already learned, before you move on to the new stuff.

But some may not have yet gotten it, so you need further work with them, and the need to teach them new stuff is always just around the corner. So you work with your students, teaching in a manner which has worked in the past, trying to be engaging so you command their attention.

And one of the natural approaches is to create excitement. The use of exclamation points in your teaching is a small way to create that excitement, and a teacher will pull out every tool in her or his toolbox to drive that message home.

And then, when they do get it, when the light goes on, you want to call attention to your victory. Not for you, so much - it's what you do - but to your young charge.

Come look at this!!!!!! you say. See what he or she did!!!!!!! They got it!!!!!!!

It's a little like the basketball coach watching a player at the end of the game at the free throw line. There's 0:01 left on the clock. The score is tied; a single point will win it.

With the young person at the free throw line, you've tried everything: overhand, underhand, deep breaths, repetition. It's been largely frustrating. And now the game is on the line.

Up the ball goes, arcing toward the net. Swish! It drops down through the strings, and the game is won. Now, that's good, but as the coach, the key thing, the thing that really lifts you, that makes it all worthwhile, is that the lesson took. The student learned.

Teachers get that every day, every hour in the classroom. It has to be one of the most rewarding parts of their job, and no wonder. Come look at this!