I have a student named "Jo" who has not been doing very well. First quarter he scraped by with a 60%. The reason why he is doing so poorly is because he is very social. He likes to talk a lot and he can not sit still. In class, I do ALOT of labs but many times he (and other students) do not listen to the instructions and then have no idea what they are doing. These students are extremely frustrating for me.
Anyway, Jo's parents contacted me today by email explaining how thankful they were for me having the patience and time to work with Jo and that they were going to be much more involved in Jo's education now. So I called Jo over to my desk to let him know that I was sending his Dad an email back and Jo said "I hate my parents!". For that split second I remembered what it was like to HATE my parents. I remember thinking "They don't know what I am going through. They don't understand. They are mean. I didn't do anything to deserve this". So I had Jo sit down and we had a conversation. I told Jo what his Dad had said to me in the email and that his dad wants the best education for him. I feel like for once I might have gotten through to him. I also told Jo that 10 years from now he is going to look back on his high school years and be very thankful that his parents were there to help support him.
After the conversation, I sat and thought about my own high school experiences and the fights I used to have with my parents about grades and going out to hang with friends and homework..etc. It made me realize how much I have grown up (and love being a grown up). I love my parents and everything they have done for me. Without their support, who knows where I would be. I am very thankful!
1 comment:
Steph, reading your post made me cry. I think if more people knew about those little moments we have with students, they'd think a lot differently about the teaching profession.
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