Originally, I planned to
write a blog post about teaching my second lesson plan in Molly’s classroom.
After all, I did light a cigarette on school grounds to emphasize the dangers
of smoking to the first graders. And I had a very good time doing it. However,
teaching my last lesson also reminded me of the conversation Ariela initiated at the
end of our last C2C class—How do you plan to say goodbye to the students?
Now, I should preference
the rest of my post by saying that I hate goodbyes. I am the worst at saying
goodbye, actually. I find it awkward and terribly hard. It just seems so weird
to me. How can a person go from being so prevalent in your life (physically, I
mean) to just completely gone? Therefore, I often choose the poor coping
mechanism of avoidance to deal with goodbyes. I pretend we aren’t saying
goodbye for a long period of time or forever. We are just saying goodbye like
any other “see you later!”
But that doesn’t really
work with students. Particularly the students we work with. How do you say
goodbye without having any idea how these students will turn out? I remember
when Molly told me that a young boy in her class was moving to another school halfway
through the semester because his sibling was kicked out of their elementary
school. Molly told me she had just cried after his last day, because he had
been doing so well, but was now going to a worse school where he could
retrogress. She had nick-named him Yale, because he decided he wanted to go
there for college. Will his next teacher encourage him to pursue that dream
like Molly did? It made me realize, I am saying goodbye to 20 students and I
have no idea what is going to happen them. Will they continue to have people in
their lives that care about them as much as Molly does? Will they start smoking
in high school, even though they squealed and faked coughed and gagged when I
lit that cigarette in class? Will the student Molly nick-named Harvard keep
that dream, or will the challenges he faces ahead allow him to settle for
something less?
I plan to write each
student a thank you note. I want to thank you for sharing their classroom with
me and for letting me learn along side with them. I want to thank them for
sharing their thoughts, dreams, and lives with me. And I want to tell them once
last time that I believe in each and every one of them. Each of them is unique,
intelligent, and special. But what I don’t know how to tell them or thank them
for, is how much they impacted me. Because of them, I made the final decision
to teach at YES Prep next year, a charter school in Houston that requires all
their students to be admitted to a 4-year institution before they graduate from
high school. I plan to take my memories of their smiles, hugs, and ridiculous
questions with me. How do I thank a first grader for that?
"How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard” - The Movie Annie
- Sara Millimet, MPH student, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University
Teach For America (Houston, 2013)
Teach For America (Houston, 2013)
Awesome post, Sara! What you said about fearing the unknown...what will happen with these students after you're gone...definitely resonates with me. I have really enjoyed the experiences I've had in Jenny's classroom and know that they will continue to impact me long after this C2C experience is over. I can only hope that some of the students we've worked with will carry some of these lessons and conversations with them over the years.
ReplyDeleteSaying goodbye is hard for professors too. We always wonder what you all will take from our time together, how you will use it, if you will keep in touch, etc.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful post Sara. It's hard to let go and trust that other people will take care of them and nurture them in the way that they need, especially when the structures aren't in place for that. This is something that I struggle with all the time being in the field of nursing. I won't know what happens to my patients when I leave the hospital at the end of the day. In fact, I actually have a quote from Archbishop Oscar Romero (a social justice and peace activist during the El Salvador civil war who was killed)that I hung up in my room. It's framed in a religious context, but I think it applies to nonreligious context also.
ReplyDelete"It helps, now and then, to step back and take a long view.
The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts,
it is even beyond our vision.
We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction
of the magnificent enterprise that is God's work.
Nothing we do is complete, which is a way of saying
that the kingdom always lies beyond us.
No statement says all that could be said.
No prayer fully expresses our faith.
No confession brings perfection.
No pastoral visit brings wholeness.
No program accomplishes the church's mission.
No set of goals and objectives includes everything.
This is what we are about.
WE PLANT SEEDS THAT ONE DAY WILL GROW.
We water seeds already planted,
knowing that they hold future promise.
We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces far beyond our capabilities.
We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation
in realizing that. This enables us to do something,
and to do it very well. It may be incomplete,
but it is a beginning, a step along the way,
an opportunity for the Lord's grace to enter and do the rest.
We may never see the end results, but that is the difference
between the master builder and the worker.
We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs.
We are prophets of a future not our own
HOW I GOT CURED OF HERPES VIRUS.
ReplyDeleteHello everyone out there, i am here to give my testimony about a herbalist called dr imoloa. i was infected with herpes simplex virus 2 in 2013, i went to many hospitals for cure but there was no solution, so i was thinking on how i can get a solution out so that my body can be okay. one day i was in the pool side browsing and thinking of where i can get a solution. i go through many website were i saw so many testimonies about dr imoloa on how he cured them. i did not believe but i decided to give him a try, i contacted him and he prepared the herpes for me which i received through DHL courier service. i took it for two weeks after then he instructed me to go for check up, after the test i was confirmed herpes negative. am so free and happy. so, if you have problem or you are infected with any disease kindly contact him on email drimolaherbalmademedicine@gmail.com. or / whatssapp --+2347081986098.
This testimony serve as an expression of my gratitude. he also have
herbal cure for, LUPUS DISEASE, JOINT PAIN, POLIO DISEASE, PARKINSON'S DISEASE, ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE, CYSTIC FIBROSIS, SCHIZOPHRENIA, CORNEAL ULCER, EPILEPSY, FETAL ALCOHOL SPECTRUM, LICHEN PLANUS, COLD SORE, SHINGLES, CANCER, HEPATITIS A, B. DIABETES 1/2, HIV/AIDS, CHRONIC PANCERATIC, CHLAMYDIA, ZIKA VIRUS, EMPHYSEMA, LOW SPERM COUNT, ENZYMA, COUGH, ULCER, ARTHRITIS, LEUKAEMIA, LYME DISEASE, ASTHMA, IMPOTENCE, BARENESS/INFERTILITY, WEAK ERECTION, PENIS ENLARGEMENT. AND SO ON.