When I was 14 I left my alcoholic fathers home. I went to live with my mother in North Carolina. For some reason I knew I needed to go to school. I needed my diploma. I enrolled in school, I even found a bus stop about 5 miles from my grandmothers house, where I could meet a friend, to catch the bus. The first day I wanted to be on time so I got up early, walked the 5 miles, and knocked on my friends door. Seemed no one was awake, I thought they must have overslept so I kept knocking. Finally the dad came to the door. I was an hour early. Somehow I had messed up. So I waited until it was time for the bus to come.
One of the classes I had that first day was shop. I wanted so badly to fit in and I listened to some other students and flicted the teacher's ear as a joke. That teacher threw me against the wall and threatened me with severe bodily harm.
That day I quit going to school.
Was I a bad kid. I don't think so. I was a kid that had no parental guidance, I was flying blind. That teacher changed my life. I don't know if it was for the good or the bad but he did change it.
That story make me think about the students I see everyday. That teacher didn't know both of my parents were alcoholics. He didn't know I had been on my own for several months after being in a kid's home. He didn't know I was trying to get my life straight as best I knew.
No all he knew was I had flicked his ear. His response to that changed my life.
Given that, I must wonder what has each student in my class lived through? What are they trying to do?
How can I help them?
1 comment:
The school system has definitely changed over the years. It seems teachers spend more time enforcing rules than they do teaching.
Unfortunately teacher can't really interact with students like they did years ago. I remember one teacher inviting me to go home with her during spring break. She was one of my favorite teachers. She made one of my least favorite subjects enjoyable for me. I didn't go, but if a teacher asked a student that today the entire world would be in an uproar. If a teacher tired to get to know a student now days someone would accuse that person of doing something evil.
It's awesome that we have people who are willing to be teachers now days. It seems so easy for them to be accused of wrong doing. Something as simple as a smile can be twisted around and made to seem dirty. All it takes is one person to say something and that teacher's life could be ruined for ever.
I wish I had an answer for how you could help them. You probably already have helped a bunch of students and you don't even know it. You may never know. I had a sub for one of my English classes. My worst subject. I barely passed the first semester. She was teaching the second semester, which was the writing portion. She asked me one day why I had done so poorly in the first semester. I told her that I didn't understand parts of speech. That apparently amazed her because she said that I write wonderfully. I got an A that semester. I really hated English. All it took was that one little comment from her. Now I love to write.
My suggestion...just keep doing what you are doing. Teachers who care change lives every day, simply because they do care. That too, is rare in this day.
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