There is nothing like being a teacher.
It is Wednesday afternoon of graduation exam week, and the final bell rings in 20 minutes. I should be working on next week’s lesson plans, but my mind is currently trying to wrap itself around what I’ve just witnessed the last hour.
In a nutshell, my cooperating teacher pulled one of her former 11th graders aside to talk because she heard that he has been preparing to fight with another former student. My teacher knew that both of these kids were good kids with very rough pasts, and they did not need another suspension. After the student and she discussed his deep “need” to fight people who disrespect him for about half an hour, I started to put in my two cents. This kid was NOT understanding how he could handle this in ANY. OTHER. WAY.
After about an hour of breaking down some walls and talking very seriously with this student, she told him how much she’d love if he’d just talk to the student he wanted to fight, and forget this ever happened, definitely not expecting it to happen. To our COMPLETE (and I mean COMPLETE) shock, he agreed. Kerri jumped out of her seat and grabbed the student across the hall.
Without making eye contact, the two calmly discussed the issue, Kerri added a few words about they not screwing up their bright futures, and they shook hands. Just like that. What was about to be a fight intended to REALLY hurt somebody, was over. My heart is just smiling right now.
My students and I had a pretty darn serious conversation about dropping out of school the other day, and I wondered to myself about 15 minutes into the conversation if this was even appropriate to talk about because of the talk of money, lack of education, drug dealers, brutal honesty about the real world, etc. We continued anyway, and I had all ears open. We took a break for lunch, and when I handed out a grammar test later that period, one of my students who has not taken a test all semester, put on his glasses, asked for a pencil, and took the test. AND HE PASSED. HE PASSED! I swear, when he asked for a pencil I wanted to hand him a lifetime supply! I was so shocked and beyond thrilled for his first time to show effort. You better believe I quietly let me know how proud I was of him. Had he listened to our conversation? Is he considering not dropping out anymore? Did something click before lunch? It was all just amazing.
All of my education professors tell us that as teachers, we will never see where our influence ends. Four out of five days are very normal, but then you have that one day where ONE student is deeply impacted, and it lights a fire under you for days. It’s incredible. Maybe I’m just on a high from what I just saw happen, but there is really no other career in the world I would want to be in right now.
Hi! I’m Erica, and I absolutely adore sharing my life on this website with you! I come here almost daily to blab about all of the things related to being a regular wife and mother in today’s ever-evolving society. I share about our new home, what’s on our kitchen table, what we’re hanging in our closets, where we’re traveling to next, my crazy 5 a.m. work outs, how I make time for girlfriends, our faith, and much more. We always have a lot of balls in the air and somewhat thrive on the chaos. I believe in the power of story-telling as a form of inspiration and entertainment, so I’m here to do both! I was born and raised in north Alabama and recently re-planted roots here again after my husband transitioned out of the Army (he is now in the Reserve and it’s going so well!) I’m a super proud mom to three little girls (ages 7, 4, and 1) who seem to be the stars of the show around here (for good reason – they’re pretty great!) I’m so glad you found me and are here reading! I hope we can get to know each other here on the blog as well as Facebook and/or Instagram. xoxo