One more week...yikes!

Journal 24 – March 29, 2007

ONE WEEK LEFT!!!!!!!!!!! I seriously cannot believe how fast teaching has flown. I have loved every second. I will enjoy relaxing at the end, but I know I will miss teaching my kids and really helping them. I love being a teacher, counsel, and friend. I’ve been here long enough now that students see me as someone they can trust, not just an intruder who is taking over their classes. I graded the psychology quiz I gave the class. They had to take an online personality test and talk about the validity, reliability, and what it said about them. A couple papers were very personal and I made sincerely comments in response. One girl said, “Miss Wiese, you are my new favorite teacher! I just loved your comments, they were so honest and I really felt like you understood what I was going through.” It really made my week. This was a girl that I had only spoken to a few times and here she was really respecting my opinion.

I use the little back room in Mr. Hollenbeck’s room to talk to my students privately when necessary. On Tuesday, one student asked to talk to me in the backroom because he knew it was safe and he could tell me anything he wanted. He told me that he was starting his meds and that he should be able to pay attention more in class and he wouldn’t fall asleep or be as hyper. I knew that I was the only teacher he was telling, he would not have told Mr. Hollenbeck, the school nurse does not even know. I told him that I appreciated him telling me and that we’re a team. He works hard in class and on homework and I work hard helping him and teaching him. It’s an awesome relationship. It was also a very weird coincidence that that afternoon I met his sponsor at the post office. She was behind me in line and saw a piece of my mail and asked if I was his teacher. It was great to meet her in person after emailing her so many times about his progress. She was very surprised that he told me about his meds, because he did not want to be on them and he did not want anyone to know. She was very complimentary and told me that she truly appreciated the relationship I had fostered with him. She was a little worried that his hard work would not continue when Mr. Hollenbeck took back over because that relationship isn’t there. It made me very sad to think about him falling behind again, especially since he brought his grade up from a D- to a B-. When I told him that he had a B- I thought he was going to cry. He went on and on about how he had not done well in school since he was in second grade. It was a really sweet moment for the both of us.

The last awesome thing that happened this week was about a bonus question on a quiz I gave. The question was “Who is your hero and why?” Many people wrote about parents, grandparents, Gandhi, or MLK Jr. But one boy wrote that the Assistant Principal was because he had gotten into trouble instead of being mean and making it worse, he had tried to help this young man and he would hopefully be able to run this weekend in the track meet. I showed the AP and he was glowing. He told me that seeing that made his made. I felt awesome that I could give that to the AP. I think it’s the little things in school that make working here so great. I’m sure it’s hard for the AP to feel appreciated, but that little note on the bottom of a quiz was just what it took to make that guy smile.