Well, tomorrow I have to go in and talk to one of my students about an essay he wrote for me which may or may not be indicative of abuse. I don't like being in this situation, mainly because I don't think this kid will talk to me, but also because I don't like to think about my students being in abusive homes. People think when you teach high school that all the kids are tough and grown up and hard to deal with. The reality is that they are still kids. And they still need us.
A few years ago, a senior boy was failing my class so I called his father to let him know. The mother then called me all sorts of choice names for calling the father and not her....little did I know they were divorced and fighting over custody. I talked to the boy outside of class one day and apologized for calling the wrong parent. He burst into tears and said "I'm not worried about me because I'm almost out of the house. I just worried about my sister." Here was this huge, 18 year old "man" crying in the hallway. At that moment I realized that we never really know what is going on with our students--big or little--and that at the end of the day, they still need someone, anyone, to let them know it's all going to be OK.
I hope this child I'm talking to tomorrow is not being abused. I hope that he will be OK. I hope that if he isn't he'll find someone to talk to. I hope it's me.
A blog about trying to teach great literature to high school students.
About Me
- LitTeacher
- I am a high school English teacher who loves to read. If only I had time....
6 comments:
So first of all, is this my sister? If so, were you hiding your blog from me? Hmmmm? Why didn't I know about this but the other sister did? I'm a teacher, too, dammit!
Second of all, this is such a sad post; that student's story breaks my heart. I have students who struggle like mad, too, and it makes me wonder what's keeping them from being okay. I've had some that have up and disappeared, too, and then I worry all the more.
Third of all, I'll speak in text speak if I want to. WTF are you doing complaining about my text spoken comments when my comments are so entertaining that people often LTBO at what I say? OMG! IDK where you get off, DS
Oh, and triangleteacher...here:
http://esl.about.com/library/glossary/bldef_147.htm
Not triangleteacher, sorry...CBH. Forgot your screen name!
How did the talk go?
I think I just saw a tumbleweed!
dear pearls...
i miss your blog. your two posts were so inspiring. i saw a milk carton the other day with your blog title on the side of it underneath the heading, "missing person." come back.
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