Pg 119 Dear Mr. Michie, Don't take it personal but your class is very boring..."
At my high school student teaching placement I had a bunch of really challenging classes. In the begining of this blog I wrote about a few of them, I wanted to come back to them for this chapter especially because of the letters by kids to teachers. There was one table of all boys that I kept having to separate, they were loud, they weren't always on task, I could tell that some of them cared and some didn't, I did my best and over all I think they all did pretty well. My last week I had a student from that table come up to me at the end of class. He said "Miss White? In english we had to write a letter to our favorite teacher... and I wrote mine about you." I didn't have any words. Here was this kid who had maybe an 80 on a top day, who was really challenged in the class, complained all the time - and there I was a student teacher at the school for 30 days... and I was his favorite teacher. I was so honored. The letter was sent, he said, through district mail "I hope you get it before you leave!"
I never got the letter, but I will never forget that afternoon.
Pg 128 Mayra tells Mr. Michie about her abuse.
So many of our students face lives that I can't even imagine. I can't be a therapist, I'm not trained to do that. I'm also not a priest, I don't take confession or keep things (big things) in confidence, if something/someone is at risk I have to say something, I have to tell people. I will be the teacher who you can come to with anything but I will also be the teacher who says "wait, before you tell me anything, I know you came to me because you think I can help even if that means going to a higher up if I have to" I will always do what is best for my students even if they hate me for it.
Pg 123 The debacle between Ruby and Mr. Shepherd
People always say that children are the future, I think there's even a song about it, I disagree. I think children are NOW. They understand so much more than we give them credit for, and can do so much if they are pushed. This past summer I participated in The March: Bearing Witness to Hope where I traveled to Germany and Poland to study the Holocaust. There are so many statistics associated with this atrocity of human failing that my mind swirled with numbers. One, however, did stick out - a Holocaust surviver, Sally, told our group that 1.5 million of the victims of the Holocaust were children. Kids, babies, pre-teens. They were seen as having no value, they couldn't work they couldn't do anything. It hurts me to think that Mr. Shephard was once a brilliant teacher who positively affected so many lives and now he's this crab who can't take the time to listen to students. I know burn out is a huge issue for beginning teachers and, knowing myself, I know that I will be prone to it. I cant be Mr. Shepherd. I've seen what loosing value in someone can do.
Essence Extractor
We have to care enough to help, to teach well and to really listen.
Idea Illustrator
Kathleen- Your blog about Mayra's abuse is also a comment I made about in my blog and one I was struck by. As teacher's, we will have students who come from a variety of backgrounds and some of them may be horrible and we do have to be the person who can just be good listeners. Your right, we are not therapists and I wouldn't know the first thing to say in that situation! We definitely can just be someone the students trust enough to talk to. I also agree with your statement on needing to go talk to someone higher up in those serious cases. That's so important to make clear to students just so they know that we are only trying to help them if they deperately need that help. - Rachel Mosher
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ReplyDeleteKathleen- About your comment about prefacing talking to your students with telling them you will go to a higher up person if you have to: I don't really think this is a good idea. I think that students are more willing to come to you if you don't let them know that you're willing to "turn them in." If they know this they will most likely not come to you when they really need help. It's better to keep it to yourself that you're willing to do this.
ReplyDelete-Stephanie