As a teacher, you see close to 130 students every year and they are all from different walks of life. You have the shy ones, the crazy ones, the loud ones, and the ones that you just really don't understand. Some of them are easy, some of them are difficult but one thing is for sure, they are all unique.
At the end of the year you always have to say goodbye and prepare yourself to welcome a new group of students in a few short months. Through all of the hugs and good-byes, there is always one thought in the back of your mind. What will happen to these kids?
You begin to play out different scenarios in your head. Maybe the shy kid who nobody talked to will become the ladies' man who has to fight the girls off him. Maybe that tiny kid (tiny tot as the teachers affectionately called him) will hit a huge growth spirt this summer, try-out for varsity basketball, become captain, and eventually get a full ride to his top school. And the kid that wouldn't even write his name on his paper (no name Ned is what you secretly called him) will realize the power of knowledge and will become valedictorian.
You could make up scenarios like this in your head all day and hope they come true. But every once in a while you come across a student that stumps you. He is that kid that has the rough home. The kid that has seen more in his short life than you will see in all of yours. You try hard to think about a scenario for this kid but your mind goes blank. You go home at night and can't help but worry, "Will he have a place to sleep? Will he get enough food? What will he do next year?"
We all know this student. The one who is smart but doesn't get good grades because he struggles to balance the stress of his home life. The student who made stupid decisions just to be accepted and paid for them by being suspended. This is the student that when asked where he wanted to go college told you he is unable to go because he got into so much trouble. This is the student who has bounced from house to house and relative to relative never knowing where he would sleep at night.
During the 180 short days that you taught him, you really tried to get through. You reassured him that his past troubles will be overlooked as long as he tried hard and did his best. You consistently told him how great of a writer he was and pulled his poems out of the trash to read after he got frustrated and threw them away. And on the last day of school you looked at him with kind eyes, trying to show him that it'll be ok and to encourage him to be the best he can be in high school.
For the last couple years you have gone home to your warm bed and your full refrigerator wondering if this student had the same. You asked coworkers and other students if they knew how he was doing. And then one day, while at the store, you ran into him (literally ran into him because you weren't paying any attention).
With a smile from ear to ear he screams your name and fist bumps you. He immediately begins to rattle off about how hard high school is but also how awesome and fun it is. He tells you he has all A's and B's and that he is applying to colleges next year. He rambles on about all of the friends he has made and the football games he has attended. He talks about how he can't wait to go to college and that he wants to be an engineer. And then he says something that really shocks you....."Thank you."
He goes on to thank you for all you did for him. For the kind words and the encouragement. For the hallway talks and the stickers on his tests. And after his thank you's, he quickly fist bumps you and scurries away. As you are left in the pasta aisle stunned, you begin to replay what just happened. Then you smile. You smile because the kid who wanted so much to be loved and accepted, who never had a stable home, who had so much potential, is surpassing his goals. You find peace within knowing that he is going to be all right.
As a teacher, we don't always know what will happen to our students after they leave our classroom. We don't always know the impact we will have on them in life. Sometimes we might even find ourselves thinking "Why should I try so hard when they don't even seem to care?" But at the end of the day remember this, no matter what the kids might say or do, when you encourage them and show them you care that impacts them for the rest of their lives. You never know who is listening but in the end you are making an impact on these kids lives, you are making an impression. Because in the end, you might just be one smile away from changing a child's life!
At the end of the year you always have to say goodbye and prepare yourself to welcome a new group of students in a few short months. Through all of the hugs and good-byes, there is always one thought in the back of your mind. What will happen to these kids?
You begin to play out different scenarios in your head. Maybe the shy kid who nobody talked to will become the ladies' man who has to fight the girls off him. Maybe that tiny kid (tiny tot as the teachers affectionately called him) will hit a huge growth spirt this summer, try-out for varsity basketball, become captain, and eventually get a full ride to his top school. And the kid that wouldn't even write his name on his paper (no name Ned is what you secretly called him) will realize the power of knowledge and will become valedictorian.
You could make up scenarios like this in your head all day and hope they come true. But every once in a while you come across a student that stumps you. He is that kid that has the rough home. The kid that has seen more in his short life than you will see in all of yours. You try hard to think about a scenario for this kid but your mind goes blank. You go home at night and can't help but worry, "Will he have a place to sleep? Will he get enough food? What will he do next year?"
We all know this student. The one who is smart but doesn't get good grades because he struggles to balance the stress of his home life. The student who made stupid decisions just to be accepted and paid for them by being suspended. This is the student that when asked where he wanted to go college told you he is unable to go because he got into so much trouble. This is the student who has bounced from house to house and relative to relative never knowing where he would sleep at night.
During the 180 short days that you taught him, you really tried to get through. You reassured him that his past troubles will be overlooked as long as he tried hard and did his best. You consistently told him how great of a writer he was and pulled his poems out of the trash to read after he got frustrated and threw them away. And on the last day of school you looked at him with kind eyes, trying to show him that it'll be ok and to encourage him to be the best he can be in high school.
For the last couple years you have gone home to your warm bed and your full refrigerator wondering if this student had the same. You asked coworkers and other students if they knew how he was doing. And then one day, while at the store, you ran into him (literally ran into him because you weren't paying any attention).
With a smile from ear to ear he screams your name and fist bumps you. He immediately begins to rattle off about how hard high school is but also how awesome and fun it is. He tells you he has all A's and B's and that he is applying to colleges next year. He rambles on about all of the friends he has made and the football games he has attended. He talks about how he can't wait to go to college and that he wants to be an engineer. And then he says something that really shocks you....."Thank you."
He goes on to thank you for all you did for him. For the kind words and the encouragement. For the hallway talks and the stickers on his tests. And after his thank you's, he quickly fist bumps you and scurries away. As you are left in the pasta aisle stunned, you begin to replay what just happened. Then you smile. You smile because the kid who wanted so much to be loved and accepted, who never had a stable home, who had so much potential, is surpassing his goals. You find peace within knowing that he is going to be all right.
As a teacher, we don't always know what will happen to our students after they leave our classroom. We don't always know the impact we will have on them in life. Sometimes we might even find ourselves thinking "Why should I try so hard when they don't even seem to care?" But at the end of the day remember this, no matter what the kids might say or do, when you encourage them and show them you care that impacts them for the rest of their lives. You never know who is listening but in the end you are making an impact on these kids lives, you are making an impression. Because in the end, you might just be one smile away from changing a child's life!