“I’ve had parents tell me I’m not allowed to tell their child ‘no.’ Watching them come in… dirty clothes… chaos at home… and knowing they need more than you can give them in a classroom of 21, with less and less support, multiple languages spoken, several different disabilities… it breaks you.”
‘I was cussed out by parents who wanted to attend field trips but missed the THREE notes that went home. When they did attend a trip, they sat on their phone the entire time. The filter comes off now.’
‘It was playtime on the playground. My student looked anxious. I climbed to get closer to him, placed my foot on the rail and tumbled, hitting my head on a metal pole. I fell to the ground.’
“That’s it. That’s all it took. Five minutes to change my entire life.”
‘My classmate’s baby had a fever. Our teacher told her to bring her. I heard Katie say, ‘She’s a little fussy,’ when handing her over.’
“Teachers like Dr. George will hold your sick baby when you can’t get a last minute sitter so you can take a test. She always makes it clear we can ask her for help.”
‘Started class with this check-in today and I’m so glad I did. It’s easy to misinterpret behavior and its cause.’
“Students wrote their name on the back of a sticky note and then placed it in the row that most accurately aligns with how they’re feeling right now.”
‘Mrs. Fey, I’m sorry for getting in a fistfight during algebra, then calling you the B-word for breaking it up. And what did you do? You showed up at 7 a.m. to work with me one-on-one.’
“My parents were divorced, my father was addicted to painkillers. He was in jail most of high school. My mother and I weren’t getting along. None of this justifies how I acted, and it wasn’t your problem. You made my difficult life bearable.”
‘How many times are you going to wear that outfit?,’ one of my wife’s 4th graders asked her. She then gave her a smug, twisted-lipped look. It made me rage.’
“I’ll be honest, this story gave me pause for a few reasons.”
‘A push in the hall, being thrown in the trash. I dreaded school. I would end the day in tears. It wasn’t going to change. Why? I was an easy target.’
“They would take my glasses off my face and see me wander around blindly trying to get them back. Then they would settle for throwing me in the trashcan. All I wanted was to go about my day in peace, but things only got worse.”
‘Rather than give me nothing, this student took the time to take every marshmallow out of her cereal to put in a bag—for me.’
“You see, 100% of my school is on free/reduced lunch. They also get free breakfast at school every day of the school week. This kiddo wanted to get my something so badly but had nothing to give.”
‘Home was a safe place for Brian in 2008. Whatever happened in school, stayed in school. Not now.’
“Brian walks across the cafeteria, minding his own business. Suddenly, his feet slide out from under him. The tomato soup goes up in the air and comes down on his lap. He’s so embarrassed, that when he stands up, he doesn’t notice Mark filming.”
‘I went to Texas A&M in 1985. I paid $12 per semester hour. Now the cost of attendance is around $22K per year. So quit calling these kids lazy.’
“Quit pretending like the situation is the same as when you went to college. It’s not.”
