Welcome to my first blog! I am looking forward to blogging about my dream job as an EC teacher and about my day-t0-day life. Keep checking for updates and I hope you enjoy reading these blogs!
I have been working for about 2 weeks now on this blog...it had gotten to be WAY WAY WAY too long so I decided to start all over! The point was to give you a run down of the last 2 years of teaching but you guys don't need to know all the details....so.....
I have been teaching for 2 years at my old middle school, Aycock, FULL CIRCLE!
I am an EC teacher (aka: special ed teacher but we don't use that terminology anymore) and have had the same group of students for the past 2 years. My first year of teaching last year was by far one of the hardest years of my life but I made it, thanks to my extremely patient family and boyfriend, and my extremely supportive coworkers and administration! I was a 7th grade teacher last year with a caseload of about 23 EC students (aka: Special Ed. Students but we don't use that anymore, EC stands for Exceptional Children). This year, I was asked to move up to 8th grade with my caseload because we all bonded really well last year and the relationship piece is sooo important when it comes to my kids (sorry Mom I know you hate that word)! This was a blessing because I absolutely adore my students and would have had a really hard time passing them along to another teacher! My students "graduated" from the 8th grade about 3 weeks ago and are headed to high school....now here is where my blog will truly start...
In the past two years I have had students move away and new students come so my caseload changed a bit and during this past year I had about 18 kids on my caseload. As you can imagine we were one big family because we spent the majority of everyday of the week together. We fought like family, we laughed like family, we cried like family and we DEFINITELY learned to function as a dysfunctional family. I watched these kids grow from immature, attention seeking 7th graders, to maturing, coming into their teen years, loving, hating, accepting, and defining 8th graders. They are my world and they have taught me everything I need to know as a teacher. I am going to make one of those "Everything I need to know I learned in Kindergarten" posters except mine is going to be called "Everything I needed to know I learned from my Middle Schoolers"..haha. I had a KILLER college education, I mean the best in the world... but nobody can prepare you to be a teacher better than these students I have had the opportunity to work with!
Some of my students have severe/mild learning disabilities, other health impairments (A.D/H.D), behavioral and emotional disorders, I had one with a traumatic brain injury, and one with autism this year. This group worked so well together because we learned how to accommodate needs and how to strategize to help ourselves in order to survive in the classroom and in the real world. A majority of my students are just like I was in middle in high school. Completely normal acting and looking but there are some aspects of learning that make the whole process really difficult, whether it be Reading, Spelling, Math, Teasting, Listening, Verbalizing, Writing, Processing etc. My kids are crazy smart they just some times needed a fire lit under their rear to get them moving. They remind me so much of myself in those years its scary! However it helps us to connect on a different level.
Now you can see that my students and I are very close, I refuse to even entertain the idea that I will ever lose touch with them. In the past 2 years I have had to take on the role of teacher, mother, sister, friend, counselor etc. for my students and have loved every bit of it.
The last day of school was very very very hard for me, I shed a little tear during their promotion ceremony but hid it pretty well.
After their promotion ceremony I had them all back to my room to eat some snacks, get some gifts and to see their parents. I was thinking by this point I would be ok if I hadn't totally lost it yet. However, when my first student left, Christian, his mother made me lose it! She couldn't hug me because she has poison ivy all over her body but she expressed to me how thankful she was that Christian had someone he could talk to when he couldn't talk to her. She started crying while she was saying all this which really touched me because she is a mother who has it all together and is an amazing support system and for her to see me as a part of that was a great feeling. She went on to say so many sweet things and by the time she was done all I could get out except for sobs was thank you and how thankful I was to have such a supportive parent through the past 2 years and how lucky Christian was to have such a supportive parent etc. etc.
I wiped my tears after that break down and then my Tevin left. Tevin was my comic relief DAILY! He was 6'3 with a personality that will one day take over the world! He has a charisma like you have never seen and he has wit coming out of his ears! He was the class clown but was ALWAYS so funny that it was hard to discipline him. He had all kinds of nicknames for me but his recent one was "Ms. Gucci". Any who, he and his mother left and as soon as they walked out the door I lost it again. His mother is wonderful and he is too and it was very hard for me to see them leave, even though I know I will see them again soon! Tevin will be a major somebody one day and most of my tears were because I am so happy for him because he has come SO FAR and has conquered so much....he is an amazing young man and I am looking very forward to all he will accomplish.
As the other students left, each of them special to me in their own ways, and each of them taking a piece of my heart with them, I held my tears in as best I could but eventually let them all out.
When my last student left, Trevon, aka Tre, I thought I was going to have a nervous breakdown. Trevon is an amazing young man, he is smart, driven, willing, loving, and an amazing support for me as a teacher. Him and Tevin did not like anyone saying anything bad about me and didn't let it happen... it was very sweet of them! However, Trevon and I worked together a lot the past two years because his Mom is just as driven as he is. She was in CONSTANT contact with me whether it be through emails, text messages, phone calls etc. she was always checking up on him and making sure he was doing what he needed to do. Though this might sound like it would be annoying it is actually the best thing a parent can do at Tre's age because they need the constant reinforcement and as a teacher it is VERY reassuring to know that I have her support. Tre got hit by a car last year on the last day of school and has recovered so quickly. Both of his legs got crushed and he had a few other scratches. Through all his surgeries doc appointments and everything he recovered quicker than anyone I have ever seen and was tougher than anyone I have ever seen! I am ridiculously proud of him and his will. Trevon really holds a special place in my heart because his family, him and I have all grown so close. His grandparents even made me a pound cake because of how much his mother praised me when talking to them, best pound cake ever! They are an amazing family and so many of Trevon's frustrations with school are the exact same ones I dealt with growing up so I can really relate to him.
At the end of the day he and his mother met me in the hallway to say goodbye and his mother hugged me and just started sobbing, all she could say was you have been a great teacher, great. Which of course made me start crying, however, the most difficult part of hugging her was knowing that she was crying because she is tired (she works 3 jobs) and has appreciated having me as a psuedo-mom while he is in school and she just wasn't sure if she was going to be able to do it on her own. However, I know for a fact she can, she is an amazing Mom and has a son who shows how capable and driven she is! This was one hug I didn't want to let go of because it felt as if I was letting out all the tears I held in from earlier.
School was over and I came to Chris' (my boyfriend's house), sat on the couch and the tears started rolling again. When I wasn't crying I was just staring off into space in thought of how much I am going to worry about my kids and how much I am going to miss them. Chris even said, "i have never seen you like this, you did a great job, you made it, they are great kids and you guys made it, be happy." And honestly part of my tears were happy tears because I am so so so so so so so so proud of how far my students have come and how much they have accomplished and part of my tears were because this was my first group of students, they showed me who I am and taught me to never give up! It was a hard hard day for me, even the next few days were hard. When I walked in the school the silence of the hallways and the broken routine of my normal day absolutely made me feel sick to my stomach, normally these are 2 great things that make you feel free, but not this year!
These past 2 years have been the best, most educating, and most rewarding years of my life and I wouldn't trade them for ANYTHING in the world! ANYTHING! I have talked to a few of my students since they left and hope to talk to a few more soon. I plan on going to see them and am looking SO forward to seeing them graduate from high school. Next year I will be the 6th grade EC teacher and will follow that group to the 8th grade. Here are a few pictures..
Trevon at graduation!
My "sweet girl" Ashley
My comedian, Tevin
My Sweet Alexus
Daniel....deep in thought
Best Friends Xavier and Christian!
No comments:
Post a Comment