When did the compassion of a teacher make a difference in your life or in the life of your classmate?
I think of compassionate teachers, and I think of those found in movies like, "Freedom Diaries." Teachers who went so far beyond the call and duty of their job that they would take up two, three jobs to pay for new books for the students to read. Ones that would care for their students so much that they would drive them home after school because they lived so far away.
Alas, such teachers don't usually happen; I have to seek less noticeable examples of compassion from my teachers.
When I think of a time when one of my teachers has been compassionate, I think of my English teacher in high school. She was a rather young teacher - less than ten years old than the students she was teaching. What made her so compassionate, though, was her ability to connect with her students and become more of a friend and mentor to them. Being so young, my English teacher knew what conflits high school teenagers were facing; she graduated from the same school and thus knew which teachers were liked or disliked and why. She gave good advice for any situation, whether it'd be a question about grammar or about real life conflicts.
And she worked so hard at her job, too. She was involved in everything - she worked at sport activities, running the scoreboard for both basketball and volleyball; she helped with the drama team; she was one of the coaches for the speech team; she helped with drama; she accompanied the choir during concerts. The list goes on. She helped out everywhere.
As a student, you can't help but come to appreciate such a teacher. Her care for her students was something that was noticable; her compassion for her job was something that was inspiring. In conclusion, by her endless efforts and her unending show of compassion, she made school a better place. She has made an impact on my life simply because I enjoyed being in her classroom, trying to better my writing skills. Without such a teacher, who knows how much I - and other students in her classes - would have enjoyed school.
That is compassion. When the care you show your kids change their attitude on school.
Hi Matthew, (I'm Jim's student aid, in case he hasn't "virtually" introduced me to your class yet; he gave me permission to read/comment on your guys' blogs
ReplyDeleteCool story about a quality teacher. I like one of your last sentences: "she has made an impact on my life simply because I enjoyed being in her classroom." Enjoying class sounds simple, but really, how common is it? Even at Luther, I can make a list of 10 or less classes that I actually enjoyed....some classes I'll even say I hated. So why is it so hard to make class enjoyable for student? If kids go to class 7 hours a day, 9 months a year, for 12 years, WHY ISN'T THE MAJORITY OF SCHOOL ENJOYABLE? It is certainly a shame to waste so many hours of our life, not enjoying what we're doing.