Today I was reminded why I became a teacher. I saw a defeated student transform into a smiling victor as I sat and helped him make corrections to a pretty iffy persuasive essay - an essay that he had written and turned in himself and on time. I had my doubts if he even would because he's an at-risk student, complete with the list of stereotypes that go along with his situation, so even though I've spent a lot of time working with this kid for the past few months, I am used to students like him bailing out on me. He didn't let me down. He did the original assignment even though I'm pretty sure he knew it wouldn't be very good when he did it to begin with. I was pretty tough on his paper, evident by all of the red corrections and comments that even the strongest of heart would find daunting. The students were given an all-or-nothing 100 point assignment to correct their mistakes. I figured that he would probably take one look at those red marks and decide then and there that he would never be able to complete what was asked, or at best that he would do a half hearted job two weeks after it was due and after I would bug him about it for days. Instead, he asked for help when we went to the lab today instead of waiting for me to come to him (often naggingly) like he has in the past. The bell signaling the end of the day rang and he stayed 40 minutes behind and we finished it together. I am so proud of him. So very very proud. He may not pass any other quarter. He may not write another essay for me or anyone else ever again, but today he did not fall through the cracks. Today, he was a writer.
My profession may not be for everyone, but it sure is for me. Today was a good day.
3 comments:
I am tearing up. This was so beautiful. Those kids are so lucky to have you and they will never know it. They are so lucky and you are so awesome. What a great teacher you are.
E, you are such a good teacher, and a good writer, for that matter. I am thinking all the things that Meg just wrote, so I won't repeat, but thanks for sharing!
I'm glad to see that you had that experience. I know that you were getting a little discourage when you were correcting essay's this week. I know you do a good job because I see the time you put in.
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