Sometimes my job feels like serendipity...
shaindelr
member
(This is way too sappy for me to put on the Working Moms board, so you ladies will have to deal with it ;-)
I'm grading my students' personal essays, and WOW. So far today, one was about a boy's drug abuse during high school and how his sister was his best friend through everything (and even though they were different genders, she will always be his closest sibling).
Another is by a student who is in recovery and was in prison before and is working really hard to get her life together and hasn't seen her kids for twenty-seven months because she has to graduate from drug court before she can see them. (She seems like the sweetest earth-mother hippie, yoga girl, and I would never in my life believe that she was in all of these fights and did time for assault charges.)
And the one I'm grading now is another "my parents were addicts and this is how they abused me, and this is how I broke the cycle" paper.
I had a super, super dysfunctional childhood. I forget what the psychological term for the list of "triggering events" for PTSD caused by childhood abuse is, but the ONLY one I didn't have was parents who were addicts. Reading my students' papers really, really reminds me that I want to be a good parent and that I have things to work on -- patience, not "losing it," etc., more than other people do.
Thanks for reading this. Back to grading.
Mac and cheese lover!
Re: Sometimes my job feels like serendipity...
Umm...there are no names attached to anything, so I'm well within my rights.
Mac and cheese lover!
Yeah, I think you're safe.
I have had similar experiences this week in class.
I shared that hellogiggles article on Chris Brown returning to the Grammys (I edited out the initial paragraph with the f-bomb in it), and my students had some of the most awesome responses. We're reading a book right now about a boy who is abused, so it tied in nicely.
BFP#1 "Watermelon" born 3/2011
BFP#2 "Pumpkin" 7/14/12 ~ EDD 3/23/13 ~ Natural M/C 8/3/12 @ 7 weeks
BFP#3 "Pineapple" born 4/2013
BFP#4 "Grapefruit" EDD 3/29/16
I'm pretty sure I understand FERPA laws for college instructors, but I appreciate your concern.
Mac and cheese lover!
Oh, cool... I'm glad that you shared it with your students. That was some powerful writing. What book are you reading?
Mac and cheese lover!
When in college I felt that i should minor in secondary education so that one day I might be an English Teacher. I still sometimes think about it. If I were to pursue that road, I think i would want to minor in psychology. I think most of the time my English professors ended up being counselors to most of my classmates. God love them!
Shaindel, sometimes having the worst parents can make one the best person/mother in the world. You know exactly what not to do! Your little guy loves you!
Teachers, in any setting, can end up being "therapists". It says something about you, that your students are that open with you.
To me, this says that you are warm and welcoming and that is such an important part of being a parent.
Thank you so much, Guys! I just wanted to share that I really feel like I get all of these wonderful "reminders" at work every so often to be a good parent, and I really appreciate it.
I also feel like being open helps people. Maybe someone else isn't comfortable writing about abuse in their childhood or social class or whatever, and I can do that and be a voice "for" them... And I try to teach writing as empowerment--everyone has stories to tell that are important.
I understand that some people aren't that comfortable being open, and that's okay for them. Live and let live. I live by the philosophy that if you tell all of your secrets, no one can use them against you.
I figure it's a little late to stop being open given that I talk about my mom's jail time on the first page of my book
Oops. A few thousand people know about my personal life already, so what will it hurt to be "me" on TheBump as well?
Mac and cheese lover!
Shaindel,
I can relate to you in a lot of ways and enjoy your posts. I, too, am very open with things going on with me and at times you come across people that aren't comfortable with it. But I still don't let it change who I am, and you are the same way.
Forged by Fire by Sharon M. Draper. My class also read an article about bullying, and had a debate surrounding whether someone should be forgiven for either of those offenses, they defined "hurt," and today they freewrote about "What is the difference between abuse and bullying?" It's going awesome! Thanks for the Chris Brown article, because it sparked the whole thing for me. It's always sweet when the kiddos come out with whatever their stories are in class because they feel safe to do so. It's empowering for all of us to see them find their voice over it.
BFP#1 "Watermelon" born 3/2011
BFP#2 "Pumpkin" 7/14/12 ~ EDD 3/23/13 ~ Natural M/C 8/3/12 @ 7 weeks
BFP#3 "Pineapple" born 4/2013
BFP#4 "Grapefruit" EDD 3/29/16