Last week I was walking the halls with my Principal and came across a former student of mine. We hugged, caught up on volleyball practice details and hairstyles. When K walked away, she said “love you” to me and I responded “love you too – be good”. In the beginning of my teaching career, I probably would not have said that. Perhaps it is me aging (gracefully, I hope), but my goal is to make every kid know old lady VanDuyne cherishes and loves them. That is easier with some kids than others, and I don’t have a 100% track record, but I try.
At night I think about the kid whose name was never mentioned by a teacher all day. The kid who tried to share an important life event, but their voice was drowned out. The kid who feels left out of the fashion race that teens are in every day. (a future blog post will be about the time budget restrictions caused my mom to spray paint my white marching band shoes black…didn’t end well). The kid who is silently freaking out because there was not a pencil or pen to be had in the house and the teacher will make a big deal about it. For the rest of my career, I plan on focusing on the kids who need me, a hug and to know I love them.
Many of our kid need this affirmation before we can teach content. It (at least for me) was not something I learned in teacher school. It took 15 years of on the job training to figure out.