Wednesday, May 25, 2011

What A Group

I don't normally share my personal life with my students, but, I felt I had to tell them about my dad's health.  I wanted them to understand why I had to answer my cell phone if it rang and why I have been out a few times recently.  (I had perfect attendance until recently.)  My crazy, dysfunctional algebra kids got it. Today, one by one they stopped me in the hall and asked how things were going.  One girl told me to call her if I needed to talk.  Another offered me a hug.  A third told them all to be quiet and work as I didn't need the stress.  They  worked all period today.

These kids are tenth graders.  It feels good to know there will be a few people who will miss me next year.  They aren't great students but they are fantastic people.   I know I will miss every single one of them.

4 comments:

ChiTown Girl said...

Aw, how incredibly sweet. Isn't it great when your kids surprise you like that?

Anonymous said...

Maybe they are crazy, but they have hearts!! I've been offered hugs but not taken them for fear of administrative reprisal. Isn't that a shame? They are as human as we are if not more so in spite of their learning issues!!! They are fortunate to have you as a teacher and to know you, and they know that.

Anonymous said...

Hi,
I wasn’t able to find any contact information, so I thought this might be the best way to reach you. I wanted to send some information your way on our ‘Parent Day of Action’ which kicked off at 7am this morning. By 9am, our volunteers and organizers had already collected over 1,000 petition signatures of New Yorkers opposing Bloomberg's plan to fire 4,100 teachers. Throughout the day, more than 100 volunteers have been talking to parents at schools and subway stops across the City (press release here: http://bit.ly/lqAFvM).

In addition to gathering petitions, we have also been collecting audio and video testimonials from public school parents. You can find them all, uploaded in real time, at parentsforteachers.com

We want to make all of this information and these resources available to local bloggers like you. So we have decided to launch, what we call, the Public Advocate’s Blog Toolkit.

Here’s a link to the toolkit: www.advocate.nyc.gov/blogs. We've pulled together videos, documents, widgets, and a bunch of other media that we think may be helpful in creating informed discussion on local blogs. The site will provide already embedded examples of the resources, along with the specific codes to post on your own site. For example, if you like one of our banners or videos, you can see how they would look on the site, and then just copy and paste the code we provide to embed it on your own site.

Also, if you like, we can add you to our site's blog roll. We hope you find all of this useful, and if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach me (jlacayo@pubadvocate.nyc.gov) or Jeff Merritt (jmerritt@pubadvocate.nyc.gov).

Best,
Javier

abused teacher said...

These are the best kinds of classes. The bonds formed are not over content or grades, but rather as a mutual respect for each other as humans. Kids get it, and know how to be there for each other as well as the loving, caring, adults that they encounter!
There is no other way to put it than they are the best part of the job. And often we forget how lucky we are to have them to brighten our day and restore our faith in this horrid system.