Thank You...Thank You Very Much

The purpose of this post is not to pat myself on the back.

I am aware that I have been at this teaching gig a long time.

Some would say I was born into it. My sister has neurofibromatosis, which is a neurological disorder that causes a variety of issues, among them learning and developmental differences.

I have always been drawn to children with special needs; several of my childhood friends were children with Downs and Cerebral Palsy and other disabilities. I felt bad for these kids, but not like pity or that I was in some way better than them.

I was sad that other kids didn't give them a chance.

There was a reason they were my friends. They had something to contribute to my life. And I had something to contribute to theirs.

As I became older, it was only natural for me to work with people with disabilities, to advocate for them and to teach them as well.

Of course, I also became a parent of a child on the Autism Spectrum. But I had already decided what I wanted to do with my life at that point. Having my unique and amazing daughter was a bonus.

Anyway, that is my background.

After doing what I have done for so many years, I am quite comfortable at my current job and I really put 100% of myself into it every day.

I am really fortunate to have found something that I enjoy and that I seem to have a knack for doing well.

So far, so good, anyway.

But, as I said at the beginning, the purpose of this post is not to pat myself on the back.

I wanted to talk a little about myself before I mentioned what is on my mind.

The thing is I get a little uncomfortable when people compare me to their other teachers. Especially when they tell me all the negative experiences they have with them.

I suppose every profession imagines there is some type of "code" among them. Some are more well-known (who hasn't heard of the "blue wall" or the "old boys' club?").  Besides, it is certainly unprofessional to assess your peers' work ethic or ability. Especially if you are not there to judge it for yourself.

On the other hand, if your student or their family continually vocalizes to you that another teacher is acting in an unprofessional or ineffective manner, or simply that "I get it much better when you explain it," it is hard to remain completely silent. What is a teacher to do?

My stance so far has been to been to thank them for their praise, and to say I am glad that my methods are effective for them or their child. If they do keep mentioning the teacher they are unhappy with, I suggest that they talk with the teacher herself or, if that doesn't get them anywhere, that they talk to her supervisor. I am not trying to get the teacher "in trouble." She may or may not be doing anything wrong. Sometimes, teachers and kids just don't connect. Sometimes, they simply can't figure out the best way to reach a particular kid. Sometimes, it's the parent who doesn't like the teacher for whatever reason (and it may be no reason at all!). I have already had TWO parents get angry with ME because the WEBSITE didn't cooperate with them. I had done NOTHING wrong. One also stopped scheduling sessions with me after she wrote the wrong date down and showed up on the wrong day. I had been doing fine with all of their children up to that point.

Of course, if a student or parent ever told me something alarming about a fellow teacher, I know I would have to report that to my supervisor. Like if they were using suggestive language or wearing inappropriate clothing or something. But, short of that, I am not sure where my responsibilities begin and end as far as giving the higher-ups the 411 about a teacher's know-how.

I think what I am doing is pretty fair. I would hope others would do the same.

Unless I hear differently, I will continue to thank my students and families and encourage them to advocate for themselves.

Student who Cares

As part of my English Language Arts instruction, I often have my students complete some sort of writing exercise.

This afternoon, I was giving an English lesson to a girl who will be entering 6th grade this fall.  Her family is from Pakistan and, although she was born in this country, she speaks and writes like an English-language learner. And she very well may be. I am not privy to that information. I only happen to know she was born in the United States because she has told me. On several occasions. I almost get the feeling as if she has had to explain that far too often in her short life.

This girl is very hard-working and excruciatingly polite. I had been teaching her about a month when I discovered that I had been pronouncing her name incorrectly. She had never dreamed to tell me otherwise when I first said it wrong, and so she permitted me to continue to say it wrong. Then, one day, she had written an essay which contained her name. When she had read it, I apologized greatly, saying it was my mistake for assuming my pronunciation was correct. I acknowledged that she was far too polite to tell me otherwise (but it would have been fine with me if she had!).

Today, I presented this girl with a choice of June journal prompts from which to write a reactionary paragraph. I set no restrictions and told her that she could read through the whole month of prompts before deciding upon a topic to write about. She had only reached June 4th when she circled the topic and said she was ready to begin writing.

The prompt read:

"A new student comes into your class and is very shy. Your friends start to laugh. Write about how you would treat the new student." (prompt via havefunteaching.com)

This was her essay (we ran right until the end, so she didn't have much time to proofread. I didn't want to edit for her, but I might have automatically made a correction here or there as I copied it down. Habit.):

One time this new girl from China came into my class and felt shy in front of other people. My friends started to make fun of her but she didn't say anything. My friends started to call out names that she was weird but I told don't say anything to her because she is new to this school. So what I did was at recess I went to her and said why aren't you talking in class and she said because I used to go to a school in China and people were so nice to me. But here in America people always make fun of me when I live somewhere else in a different country. I decided to help her out and say what is your name and she said my name is Mahek. It felt really hard til the next day our teacher moved her to a table where my friends were and they said you never talk to us because you seem sad. Soon my friends got used to her and asked questions about herself and all about China. By the time everyone was at recess all of us made really good friends and were really happy. My friends learned a lesson not to be mean or cruel to other people because it hurts their feelings and you should always get to know others in a polite manner.

What an awesome kid! And what a great little essay! I am so proud of her!