As another school year draws to a close I always like to look back
and reflect on the year. For me this was an especially difficult and trying to
school year. The students that I worked with although rewarding, were often
challenging and testing me in many ways I had not been tested before. However,
as I sit here I ask myself and wonder if I did enough. Did I do enough to help these
kids be better then they were when they walked in my room in the fall?
Not so long ago I had a conversation with a good friend who said you
can't help every kid so why do you try to help all of them. The reality is he is
correct. If I look at the hundred or so students I teach every year, I can't
help each and every single one. Some of the students I will not be able to
connect with or help in any sort of significant way. Some of these kids come in
with so much baggage and learned behavior from home environments or ingrained
home cultures, that I don't stand a chance. If I'm being an optimist, I might
say half of my kids are better off than they were when they walked in my room
in the fall. But as I told my friend I don't know which half that's going to be
or which have it is even after the school year is over.
I will never truly know the impact I have on a kid. That is why we
as teachers can never give up on a kid. Or in this case, give up on a group of
kids like a class that may be difficult or challenging. The time we invest is
never wasted because we never know which kid it's going to help. In some cases
we will never truly know our impact and it's because of that unknown that we
have to do our best and try our hardest for every kid. If we give up on a kid
or give up on a group, we don't know which ones we could have helped. As I told
my friend, we have to try to help them all because we don't know which one it
will click for.
As the school your draws to a close I made sure to reach out to each
and every one of my students. I told them either verbally or in writing, in
some cases, how much that meant to me. I thanked them for working and learning
with me this year. I also set for some goals for them personally and
academically and told them I will be checking up on them as they move into next
year. While I may never know the impact I had the group of students I had this
year, I feel like I gave everything I had and I hope it was enough for at least
some of them.
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