Yesterday I ran into a former student. I wouldn't have recognized him on his own - he's taller than I am now. But his mother was with him, and she looked exactly the same as when I taught her son in third grade five years ago. They left town at the end of that school year, following dad's job to greener pastures, and I hadn't seen them since. Until yesterday.
This is a kid who came to me as a Hurricane Katrina refugee, far from home, and couldn't read. He was obviously smart; he could remember anything read to him, especially if it related to science. But he couldn't make sense of the written word.
We caught each other's eye at the same time, and the mom all but hugged me on the spot. She told me how much she's thought about me over the years, and how often she's told people how grateful she is for the year her son spent with me. She said I was the first teacher to take an interest in him and to find books for him that he'd be interested in reading. (A big shout-out here to Debbie Alvarez, our school librarian that year. I sent him to her many, many times that year for help finding books on his level that would interest him.)
His mom went on to tell me that he is a straight-A student now, and is in a youth leadership development program. They're still following dad's job and have recently moved back to the Northwest. He starts high school next year and has a promising future ahead of him.
This, in a nutshell, is why I teach.
This is a kid who came to me as a Hurricane Katrina refugee, far from home, and couldn't read. He was obviously smart; he could remember anything read to him, especially if it related to science. But he couldn't make sense of the written word.
We caught each other's eye at the same time, and the mom all but hugged me on the spot. She told me how much she's thought about me over the years, and how often she's told people how grateful she is for the year her son spent with me. She said I was the first teacher to take an interest in him and to find books for him that he'd be interested in reading. (A big shout-out here to Debbie Alvarez, our school librarian that year. I sent him to her many, many times that year for help finding books on his level that would interest him.)
His mom went on to tell me that he is a straight-A student now, and is in a youth leadership development program. They're still following dad's job and have recently moved back to the Northwest. He starts high school next year and has a promising future ahead of him.
This, in a nutshell, is why I teach.
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