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Jun. 7th, 2007 07:46 pm
The seniors have renewed my faith.
Today was the kind of day I got into this career for. The seniors were giving their senior presentations, and while not all of them passed, most did remarkably well--especially considering how much they've slacked off during the prep phase.
In particular:
My Hmong student aced it. This girl is the oldest of three siblings who attend our school. This girl has several learning disabilities, and has been told all her life that she's slow, that she should be the brain, and not her younger sister (who does NOT share her family's weird BS about her big sister, and is very supportive of her). She's been told by her family so often that she's not going to graduate and that she shouldn't bother with college that she had started to believe it. Earlier this semester she broke down in tears giving a speech about her family, because they've made her so miserable about all this.
Today, though... she ACED her senior project. She's got a 3.5 GPA. She's been accepted to Sac State. She's a great kid, and I'm incredibly proud of her. She came to me and said "Mr. Johnston, you're my favorite teacher. Thank you for getting me through this." Now, I'm not the only teacher she's had, and I'm certainly not the BEST teacher she's had... but I taught her how to write a research paper, and how to get in front of a panel of judges and give her speech with poise and confidence. And I very nearly cried.
My Nicaraguan immigrant student is a fifth-year senior who started deep in the hole, credit-wise. She's worked her butt off this year, and she's got the late-night jitters to prove it. Today she was entirely crazy. I thought she would either pass out or start crying, she was so nervous, and I spent a good half-hour acting as a psychiatrist to bring her down and get her calm. Despite English being her second language, she managed one of the highest scores of all the seniors. Now, ok, our senior projects aren't as great as some schools', but dammit, they did pretty well. This kid made me promise to be in the room when she spoke so she wouldn't be nervous, and then never needed to look at me once. She OWNED THE ROOM.
One of the things they don't tell you in training classes is that there are days you feel like a fraud, like you don't belong in the profession and should just go the frack home. This is especially common in your first year.
Today, I felt like I actually made a difference to these kids. I felt like I was a teacher.
And it was grand.
In particular:
My Hmong student aced it. This girl is the oldest of three siblings who attend our school. This girl has several learning disabilities, and has been told all her life that she's slow, that she should be the brain, and not her younger sister (who does NOT share her family's weird BS about her big sister, and is very supportive of her). She's been told by her family so often that she's not going to graduate and that she shouldn't bother with college that she had started to believe it. Earlier this semester she broke down in tears giving a speech about her family, because they've made her so miserable about all this.
Today, though... she ACED her senior project. She's got a 3.5 GPA. She's been accepted to Sac State. She's a great kid, and I'm incredibly proud of her. She came to me and said "Mr. Johnston, you're my favorite teacher. Thank you for getting me through this." Now, I'm not the only teacher she's had, and I'm certainly not the BEST teacher she's had... but I taught her how to write a research paper, and how to get in front of a panel of judges and give her speech with poise and confidence. And I very nearly cried.
My Nicaraguan immigrant student is a fifth-year senior who started deep in the hole, credit-wise. She's worked her butt off this year, and she's got the late-night jitters to prove it. Today she was entirely crazy. I thought she would either pass out or start crying, she was so nervous, and I spent a good half-hour acting as a psychiatrist to bring her down and get her calm. Despite English being her second language, she managed one of the highest scores of all the seniors. Now, ok, our senior projects aren't as great as some schools', but dammit, they did pretty well. This kid made me promise to be in the room when she spoke so she wouldn't be nervous, and then never needed to look at me once. She OWNED THE ROOM.
One of the things they don't tell you in training classes is that there are days you feel like a fraud, like you don't belong in the profession and should just go the frack home. This is especially common in your first year.
Today, I felt like I actually made a difference to these kids. I felt like I was a teacher.
And it was grand.
