What Brings Me Joy
By James Kim
6th Grade Humanities Teacher, South Portland Middle School
Read at the All Staff Convocation, August 27, 2024
What brings me joy?
My cat.
The surprised discovery of a loose twenty-dollar bill
inside my jean jacket I’ve resuscitated out of my dusty closet.
Listening to the rain while parked at the Walgreens parking lot,
Adding items to my amazon shopping cart but never actually clicking purchase,
The musician who plays the saxophone at Tommy’s Park on Sundays making
the trees dance to the rhythm of his song
The Pork Buns at Pai Mien Miyake,
The smell of the pages from a new book
from Back Cove Books.
A squirrel carrying a whole slice of pizza
out of a trash can, then proceeding to dash across
Mill Creek Park.
The snow. Though, preferably not in April.
Unless it is a snow day.
Reading a book to my niece on a facetime call on
Sunday mornings,
Re-reading old letters that I’ve collected and preserved.
These are all things I can say that brings me joy,
but what brings me the most joy these days are…
the 7:30 drives listening to Maggie Rogers on my way to school,
greeting students as they walk through the door with anticipating smiles and excitement,
getting roasted by twelve-year-olds for drinking Starbucks canned coffee,
When a student grabs the hallway pass without me reminding them.
Watching the hands that go up during class followed by questions that stump me,
not because they are bad questions, but because they are brilliant,
and I always need an extra second to appreciate them.
The joy in a student’s voice when they tell you that they’ve finished reading a book,
or when I witness the lightbulb flash above a student’s head that is bright enough to illuminate an entire city infectiously yelling its eureka.
When a student reads their writing out loud, trusting, nay, knowing that their words hold value and meaning beyond the boundaries of their notebook.
When a student catches a grammatical error on their own, adding that missing comma without you having to make the “did you proof-read” face.
When a student gets excited about making mistakes, because they know that they are allowed to make mistakes in room A2-06 and because mistakes are the only way
to know that we are growing, and our school is a place where together, we grow.
When a student thanks you, but never actually says “thank you.”
Instead, they “dab you up”
Or tell you that the lesson was “a vibe” or “chill”
I get to watch them leave as better versions of themselves at 3:00 every day,
That is what brings me joy.
Not the extra cash in my jean jacket,
Not the squirrel heisting a discarded slice of pizza
or a new book on my bedside table I’ve been meaning to read all summer,
but the joy that I am living my dream that I’ve dreamt
since 8th grade. Merely imitating the teachers that had
taught me the love of learning and self-worth.