1. The moment of honesty and confidence

Some of the best moments of being a teacher is when you have a student who feels comfortable enough in your teaching and guidance that they take you into their confidence. Although for elementary school students this might not be as prevalent as it is for older students, the fact that a student feels safe enough to come up to you and talk about their personal concerns and worries is a wonderful moment.

Regardless of the external demeanor of the person, every teacher generally places great value in these moments as they are the gateway to forming a better relationship with students for the future.

2. The "Wait! It all makes sense now!" moment

The "Ah-ha!" moment is the one that teachers talk about the most and it's for a good reason. Any teacher-recruiting video or advertisement points out this most-satisfactory instance. When a student finally gets something, especially if the concept has been one that has particularly been tormenting them, that cathartic release is all the reward you need as a teacher. Students learning, in the rawest form, is a #1 reason why most people (including myself) love their jobs as educators.

3. The "Students Helping Other Students" moment

Watching students help other students is a moment filled with pride and always results in a smile, in my case. This happens both when a classmate helps another classmate with a problem in academic work, but also when I see students who generally are not part of the same friend group help each other with frustration, paying attention, and loneliness. Especially with the younger students, parts of school require a degree of taste-acquiring that their fellow classmates can help with. And, when I see this happen without even the need for me to walk over and quietly ask a student to help out, I feel so thankful for my students at that moment.

4. The moment when students become teachers

Although there tends to be a negative reputation associated with the know-it-all of the class, knowing that there is a student in the room who you can rely on and deem to be trustworthy is reassuring but, that's not the student that I am talking about or the moment.

The moment that I am talking about is when a child has absolute joy on their face because they are able to stand in front of the classroom and help teach something. Part of the fun is in leading their fellow students from a somewhat higher-up place in the room, but part of that joy comes from being able to share their own piece of the knowledge puzzle that students leave school with every day. This is the most obvious when it comes time for show-and-tell, or for our kindergarten classrooms, when we pick one student every day to help teach math.

The moment when you're proud of their choices

This moment relates to the "The "Students Helping Other Students" Moment" in which I feel an intense pride for the choices that students make without being asked to. I regularly see friends helping friends up from the ground if they've fallen and reassured them that they didn't look so silly. I see classmates choosing to listen and follow along to the lesson, and then ask the most thoughtful of questions. I see wonderful dialogue during discussions and debates that both excites students and makes them curious.