I had a couple of interesting conversations take place with students today. They both made me really think about how lucky I was to grow up in a loving, stable environment & both left me wishing that I could wave my magic wand so that they can have that too.
*1st conversation (took place with one of my 2nd grade reading groups-approx 7 students)- We were discussing the book that we had just read, in which the little girl in the story had moved to a new school & encountered a bully, when I asked the question "How many of you moved here from somewhere else at some time in you life?" (I was expecting the hands of 1-2 of the students whom I knew had moved into the district that year)
6 of the 7 hands went up in the air!
2 of them had moved here this school year (1 of which had been here in Kindergarten, moved away, & now is back for 2nd grade)
2 of them had moved here last year when they were in 1st grade
And the other 2 had moved here when they were much younger...
only 1 of my 7 students had lived here his entire life!
I always knew that we have a lot of students move in/out of the district each year, but in such a small group, I never expected the numbers to reflect it quite so drastically.
*2nd conversation (took place with a 2nd grader later in the day)-I asked him something generic about how his day was going & with a straight face, he looked at me & said...
"My dad beat up my stepdad last night, but it's okay because he deserved it."
He then proceeded to tell me the rest of the story...Oh my.
What I take away from all of this is...when I think my life is rough, I know that it is nowhere NEAR as rough as what some of my "kids" are dealing with on a daily basis & I just hope that I can at least be that one bright, shiny GOOD part of their day that they can look forward to when things aren't so good elsewhere!
4 comments:
wow, what a reality check. It is amazing how others situations can put everything in to place. It hurts my heart when I hear children talk about pain in their lives, at least they have a great teacher to love on them!!
I hear ya! I hear similar stories from kids I work with about their families and home life...moving around alot, moms and dads breaking up, changing partners, domestic violence, substance abuse. I often complain about my family but when I hear those stories I too realize I was lucky to live in the same house with the same mom and dad until I went to college.
i like your funny student stories better.
"Rope"~I'll try to do better! :)
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