teach. - If I make a difference in one life...
When I started teaching, I always said I'd feel successful and happy if I made a difference in at least one child's life. It isn't an easy job, making a difference in people's lives. Some days it feels like I'm teaching to an empty room. It feels like they aren't listening. I feel like I'm failing them. Then, when I least expect it, there comes this glorious glimmer of hope.
On Saturday, I had a missed phone call from a past student. It got me thinking about the group of students I spent three years with a few years back. This particular group of students touched my heart, and I'll never forget them. The three years we were all together were full of laughter, tears, failures, and SO many successes! These kid grew and grew and grew not only academically but emotionally and socially. They each had special circumstances at home - maybe that's why we all connected. Well, over time I built a very strong and trusting relationship with one of these students and his family. On occasion, my husband and I would pick this young boy up on the weekend and take him to dinner or to local community events. During his fifth grade year, he would always tell me he didn't want to go to middle school because he'd never see me again. I reassured him we would maintain contact and continue to see each other once he moved on to middle school. At the end of his fifth grade year, I felt like a proud parent sending him and the others off to middle school. The last day of school that year was quite an emotional one for me. Not only were these students leaving for middle school, but I had made the decision to leave the school district as well. I gave his grandmother my phone number, and over the past three years we have stayed in touch.
I missed his call on Saturday and had some free time this afternoon, so I returned his call. His voice has gotten deeper since I last saw him in December 2015. He told me he had gotten taller and had started boxing. He plans to make it "big" with boxing. He asked about my marriage and why we hadn't had kids yet. My response, "I have 35 at school. I don't need any when I get home." I asked him about the girlfriend he had told me about the last time we spoke. They broke up a couple days ago. Of course, being the teacher I am, I asked about school and if he was staying out of trouble. "Yea, I've been staying out of trouble. It's only the third week of school." He later admitted, he ended last school year with less than stellar behavior, because he was getting smart with teachers. I reminded him, " You are better than that, smarter than that, and have been taught better than that." Then, we started talking about school...academic school. He told me about the math test he took today. He said, "It was on negative and positive numbers on a number line. And, you know how you taught about the gator mouth eating the bigger number? Yea, that was on there too." My teacher heart couldn't resist smiling. HE REMEMBERED SOMETHING I TAUGHT HIM!! WHAT?! WHAT?! Success.
The point of the story is this: we are touching lives and making a difference even when we feel like we're talking to an empty room. They hear us. They remember what we're teaching them. They look up to us. We are role models...and a lot of the time we're the only role models they have.
I know for a fact I've made a difference in this young man's life - just as he has made a difference in mine. Deep down, I know he isn't the only one. I've been run down in the grocery store by a kid screaming my name. I've been in line for a roller coaster ride at Carowinds and had a kid doing all he could to get my attention. I've been at the public library and a past student snuck up on me and squeezed me tight. Another student texted me (in sixth grade...I was not longer his teacher, & it was from his mom's phone) to tell me he had made all As and Bs on his report card. I'm making a difference. You are making a difference. We are changing lives. What is more amazing than that?
Now if we could just remind ourselves of that on the hard days.
#teachingwithlove #makingadifference #changinglives
On Saturday, I had a missed phone call from a past student. It got me thinking about the group of students I spent three years with a few years back. This particular group of students touched my heart, and I'll never forget them. The three years we were all together were full of laughter, tears, failures, and SO many successes! These kid grew and grew and grew not only academically but emotionally and socially. They each had special circumstances at home - maybe that's why we all connected. Well, over time I built a very strong and trusting relationship with one of these students and his family. On occasion, my husband and I would pick this young boy up on the weekend and take him to dinner or to local community events. During his fifth grade year, he would always tell me he didn't want to go to middle school because he'd never see me again. I reassured him we would maintain contact and continue to see each other once he moved on to middle school. At the end of his fifth grade year, I felt like a proud parent sending him and the others off to middle school. The last day of school that year was quite an emotional one for me. Not only were these students leaving for middle school, but I had made the decision to leave the school district as well. I gave his grandmother my phone number, and over the past three years we have stayed in touch.
I missed his call on Saturday and had some free time this afternoon, so I returned his call. His voice has gotten deeper since I last saw him in December 2015. He told me he had gotten taller and had started boxing. He plans to make it "big" with boxing. He asked about my marriage and why we hadn't had kids yet. My response, "I have 35 at school. I don't need any when I get home." I asked him about the girlfriend he had told me about the last time we spoke. They broke up a couple days ago. Of course, being the teacher I am, I asked about school and if he was staying out of trouble. "Yea, I've been staying out of trouble. It's only the third week of school." He later admitted, he ended last school year with less than stellar behavior, because he was getting smart with teachers. I reminded him, " You are better than that, smarter than that, and have been taught better than that." Then, we started talking about school...academic school. He told me about the math test he took today. He said, "It was on negative and positive numbers on a number line. And, you know how you taught about the gator mouth eating the bigger number? Yea, that was on there too." My teacher heart couldn't resist smiling. HE REMEMBERED SOMETHING I TAUGHT HIM!! WHAT?! WHAT?! Success.
The point of the story is this: we are touching lives and making a difference even when we feel like we're talking to an empty room. They hear us. They remember what we're teaching them. They look up to us. We are role models...and a lot of the time we're the only role models they have.
I know for a fact I've made a difference in this young man's life - just as he has made a difference in mine. Deep down, I know he isn't the only one. I've been run down in the grocery store by a kid screaming my name. I've been in line for a roller coaster ride at Carowinds and had a kid doing all he could to get my attention. I've been at the public library and a past student snuck up on me and squeezed me tight. Another student texted me (in sixth grade...I was not longer his teacher, & it was from his mom's phone) to tell me he had made all As and Bs on his report card. I'm making a difference. You are making a difference. We are changing lives. What is more amazing than that?
Now if we could just remind ourselves of that on the hard days.
#teachingwithlove #makingadifference #changinglives
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