I was blessed to be a classroom TEACHER for 31 ½ years. Well, maybe I should subtract two that
weren’t so great, but even those years taught me a lot. Outside of my family, TEACHING has always
been my greatest passion. That may not
seem so surprising except for the fact that I never once thought of being a
teacher until I had actually graduated from college. I wrote a post about that HERE, so I won’t go
into details.
Now that I am retired, I really do miss being in the
classroom. I love retirement (especially
not having to hear that alarm clock every a.m.), but I miss the kids, my fellow
teachers, and even making lesson plans!
Sadly, teachers are not always given the respect these days
that we were once given. Instead of
parents supporting the teachers, many today are all too often ready to point
their finger at them without seeking out all the details. OK….didn’t mean to get off on that but many
good teachers are leaving the classroom because of lack of respect and support
(and some other reasons too).
I try to be a CHEERLEADER for teachers and
administrators. They aren’t all
perfect…some, in fact, need to go! But
educators are faced with much more than many people realize. I thought I would share with you just a few
of my own personal teacher stories in hopes that it may bring awareness of what teachers deal with on a daily basis…much, much more than just academics.
NOTE: Names will be
changed for obvious reasons and the pictures are not of my actual students. They are from my Pinterest board: ALL GOD'S BEAUTIFUL CHILDREN.
Story #1: “Mary” was a
pretty little blonde girl in my class.
Very quiet & shy…and very, very poor. She rarely smiled and she dressed very
shabbily. I discovered one day just how
bad things were at her home. She nor her
brother even had a toothbrush. With the
help of two friends who had young children, we were able to supply them with
some hand-me-down (but nice) clothes and brand new toothbrushes and
toothpaste. That was the first time I
ever saw Mary smile. And I teared up.
Story #2: “Tom” was a
strange little boy. Not much to say
although his older sister was very outgoing.
I soon noticed that every time I put my hand on Tom’s shoulder or patted
him on the head, he would jerk away. I
learned not to touch him but would stand beside his desk with my hands behind
my back. It worried me what might have
caused his fear, or at least what I felt was fear. On the last day of school I always would call
my kiddos up to me one-by-one and give them a big hug as they exited my room for
the last time. I deliberately called on
Tom last. When he came up to me I said,
“Tom, I know you don’t want me to hug you, but could we shake hands?” He looked at me a moment, shook his head NO,
then grabbed me and gave me one of the biggest (and BEST) hugs I’ve ever
had. I cried!
Story #3: “Tyrone” was
a 9 yr. old (over age for 2nd grade) who came with a reputation…and not a good
one. He had been held back twice already
and had given every teacher fits. The
only teacher he really did OK with was our Behavior Disorder teacher. I was asked if I would be willing to take on
Tyrone for the year. I wanted to scream
NO! NOT ME! but I couldn’t do it. It
took awhile for Tyrone and I to geehaw…sometimes he would get mad and dive
under his table/desk; sometimes he would say some not-so-nice things to me; but
eventually I fell in love with Tyrone.
He and I learned together what we could each handle and how to handle
it. But how could you not at least try
and have patience with a child who lived with an elderly grandmother, a
mentally handicapped uncle, and a couple other adults and whose mother was in
jail? She had locked Tyrone’s younger
sister in a closet for a year and starved her to death. I still have the Valentine Tyrone made for
me from notebook paper…I found it on my desk.
It said, “I love you.” I cried.
Story #4: “Karen” was
the smartest little thing! She had so
much brains and so much personality but no legs from the knees down and very
few fingers. A couple years before she
caught a serious infection from swimming in a motel pool. She lost her limbs but never her spirit. Her handwriting was superb…much better than
many with all 10 fingers! And although
she had prosthetic legs (wooden back then), she hated them and would in a
skinny minute whip them off and scoot around the classroom on her limbs faster
than any bunny rabbit ever thought about.
She always made me smile😊
Story #5: “Linsey” was
such a pretty little girl, very thin, very quiet, and very intelligent. She lived in a trailer with her mother, her
sister, and her extremely stern stepfather (ex-military man). The home was evidently not clean because both
girls came to school several times during the year with head lice. Each time the father would blame it on other
children (even though no one else in my class had lice that year). This EVIL man would shave the girls’ heads,
leaving only a thin layer on top. One
day he came to school and was extremely rude to me in front of my class. He told me he was going to completely shave
their heads. I lost it! I cried and cried and begged him to please,
please not do that. Thankfully, he
didn’t. Linsey wanted to grow up to be a
model she told me one day…I doubt that happened. In fact, I have seen her name in the arrest
reports in our local paper more than once….and each time I cry.
Story #6: My 2nd year
of teaching I taught Remedial Reading to 2nd and 3rd graders; many were
children of migrant workers. “Ella” was
a beautiful little Hispanic girl and her brother “Pedro” was so handsome…and
they were both sweet as sugar. Ella had
no underwear. When I told my husband he
said, “Get in the car; we’re going to buy underwear” and we did. Later that year with the help of some great
friends we supplied this family with a new- to-them but used refrigerator when
their's broke down, some clothes, and food.
Their parents were so appreciative and so humble. I smiled and cried at the same time!
There are so many more stories…some sad, some happy, some
funny. No time for all the details but
just to highlight:
*the mother who came to the front office to check out her
child wearing her negligee (the mother, not the child!)
*my student whose first name had all 26 letters of the
alphabet (I never learned to say it or spell it but she could). Thankfully she had a nickname!
*”Abby” who was mentally handicapped but 100 times smarter
than her mother; but oh how much they loved each other!
*”Shawn” whose mother blurted out in my parent conference for no apparent reason, “I’m
a Lesbian”…don’t even remember how I responded but let’s just say I was mostly
at a loss for words
*the father who told me during our conference that his son was
having problems because at home his wife was not giving him (the father) enough
sex and he guessed it was affecting his son...absolutely no words for that one but I'm sure my face had a strange strangled look!
Folks, you can’t make this stuff up.
PLEASE...RESPECT & APPRECIATE TEACHERS. I know they aren’t all deserving of it, but
most are and most dearly love and care about each and every student in their class. And if you ever have the
opportunity to help a teacher in any way, please do. They spend so much of their own time and own
money on “their children.”
I thank God often for the privilege and blessing of having
been a TEACHER.
