Month: September 2011

  • my ministry

    via jesse coder

     

    sometimes i wonder why i'm so tired at the end of a day.  everyone works.  everyone has a job.  work is difficult.  but recently, it's really been hitting home that teaching is really a ministry.  it was a ministry when i was working out in the suburbs, but i just didn't notice it as much because the kids there had good support systems.  in the city, teachers really play that role.

    we have something called "advisory" in our school.  it's a thirty-minute period where we meet with a small group of students to give all students an opportunity to work closely with an adult who is invested in their future.  we talk about their academic growth, future plans, and simply what irks them.  this week, i've been doing short lessons on helping students build their support network.  it's been telling.

    the first day, we did an exercise called "my needs."  it was a rote checklist of various abstract items that kids might need; a hug, attention, less stress, etc.  when we shared out, one of my students simply said, "i need a hug."  when i asked her, "from whom," she teared up and replied that she wanted a hug from her dad and sister who she hadn't seen since she left her country two years prior.  even the boys got quiet as we tried to console her, and i gave her a big hug at the end of class, but i was a little dumbstruck.

    today, we did an exercise called "my wishes" where students had to write an abstract wish next to a list of people in their lives.  i was a little wary of where things went yesterday, but i encouraged them to be honest, and this is what i got. "i wish my mom would call me."  when i asked about that one, the boy said his mother lived in Jamaica, and that he hadn't spoken to her for 11 years.  i asked if it might be possible to call her, and he shared that she had "moved around a lot," so they had no idea where she was.

    a bit later, another girl said, "i need attention from my mother."  knowing that her mother had just had a baby last year, i offered that it was always hard the first year with a baby, but the girl simply teared up and just repeated, "i need attention."

    all the students in my advisory are relatively good students, meaning they try their best, they go to class, but they're nowhere near the national benchmarks of what might make them truly excellent students.  sometimes i lament the huge discrepancy i see in the education i received and what they are experiencing.  i push them in class, and throw my hands in the air when they just aren't "into the lesson."  but today, my eyes were opened just a little bit more.  seeing what these kids are carrying around with them just broke my heart...so if it means that i'm going to go a little easy on them, or let my heart get involved, so be it.  i'm ok with being tired.