On my desk in my classroom, I have a jar of candy. Inside is all kinds of sweet treats like Jolly Ranchers, Werther’s caramels, Starburst, Hershey’s Kisses, and my newly acquired Hi-Chews. It is there for my students, my kids, to be a little sweetness in their day. All a student needs to do is ask politely, with “Please and Thank you” and they can pick one per day. I teach over 500 kids during a single school year so once the news gets out that, “Mrs. Neilan has her candy jar!” it travels very fast. Over the course of a normal week, I fill the jar 3 times.

I teach my classes in quarters, so that means I get a group of students in each grade 5-8th for nine weeks then I get a brand new group of kiddos and teach the same thing for this group four times in a school year. Many students ask for candy when they are in my room for class, I have students who have already been in my class ask for candy, and I have some who have never asked at all for whatever reason that may be. The main thing is the students know it is there whenever I am. If it is gone, they know I’m not there and they will be having a substitute for the day or class period.

This year I did have to put it away for a while. I had news from some reliable students that others were taking more than one piece. It was right after Halloween and I had to sadly tell all the students that came to my room for a sweet treat the jar had to be put away because of the choices of a few students. It was heartbreaking to see the looks on some of their faces. The students who do everything right and don’t get into trouble say, “Why would anyone do that?!?” I had to hide the jar until the week of Thanksgiving break to make it “hurt” and remind the students that this jar is there out of the goodness of my heart. When they take advantage of my generosity, it goes away. (I was able to save a lot of money during that time!) Since then, I haven’t had one problem. Mission accomplished!

As I visited with my 8th-grade students this morning about being thankful and kind, the theme for their next project, I used the image of my candy jar to illustrate when you give something you receive twice as much. I get way more out of my candy jar than the money it takes to fill it. To see the smiles on my students’ faces when they choose a piece is priceless to me. Some of my kids come from broken homes, some come from poor conditions, some come from homes where there is no discipline, and some come from homes where everything is going well. One piece of candy will give a student the opportunity to put down all of the baggage they are carrying to school that day. One piece of candy is the connection I have with each and every student. One piece of candy can get a child to open up to me so maybe I can help them with whatever situation is concerning them. One piece of candy gives my students a sense of trust that they can visit with me about anything. Who knew….one piece of candy….could do all of that.