Let's call this one "A Teachable Moment"

School began again this past week.  I only have 21 more first days of school until I can retire.  Actually I can retire whenever I want, yet after this past week and the occurrence of a specific event, I do not see myself retiring for quite some time.

It was hectic.  I did not have near as much coffee as I needed.  Students showed up.  Students skipped class.  Students spoke when I spoke.  They didn't raise their hands.  I got frustrated.  I missed my children.  My alarm clock still works.  Girls wore their shirts too low.  Boys wore their pants too low.  I handed out textbooks.  I reviewed French numbers.  I had my first taste of a week at high school ... as a teacher.  All in a day's work.  Nothing new.

However something new did happen this week that I am not used to at all.  I heard a "thank you."  A true honest heart felt thank you, from a parent.

As I pulled into a gas station after school, I noticed a previous student in a car with a parent.  I drove in, not really noticing much else.  Before I knew it, as I pumped gas, this parent had turned round, pulled back into the gas station, got out of his car, came over to me, and introduced himself as a student's parent.  This student, we'll call him T, I have known since he was in 6th grade.  Supposedly, T talked about me all the time last year and now that I got moved to the high school with all the freshmen, the talk continues.  T's father stood there, telling me this, and I just wanted to cry.  This was one of the moments I had heard of before.  The moment when you hear that what you did on a daily basis mattered to someone.  T listened to me and still listens to me.  He valued me.  He valued what I was trying to do for these kids, for him and all his friends.

T has three older siblings.  Unfortunately they have all taken Spanish instead of French, but I still know them all.  This family of brothers and sisters are a few of the best I have had.  They are some of the most polite, dedicated, respectful, and just nice kids I have known in my 9 years of teaching at Susquehanna Township School District.  I can truly say I love them all dearly.  As I said to T's father, I hope my boys end up like his boys, and I truly mean that.

This very short few minutes of conversation I had with T's father, with his sister there, made my year.  I felt so appreciated.  I felt so loved.  I felt so accepted.  T's father thanked me for what I did.  He said I must be doing something right.  I had made an impression.

I was the student that moment.  I listened and I learned that I was doing something right.

September 1, 2013