Graduation 2018: Confidence & Resilience

Last night, the last two students from my very first class as a solo teacher graduated. It was a strategies class, which, at my school, is a study hall with an executive functioning lesson at the beginning. It was a real crash course in teaching for me. I got my math license for passing the Math MTEL and my special ed license was achieved after passing 3 MTELs and taking 4 graduate classes. I had never student taught. I was just tossed in; sink or swim. I thought I was sinking.

One student wouldn't even make eye contact with me for most of that first trimester, but she'd write me these elaborate journal entries that told me so much about her. The growth I've seen from 4 years ago to now would break all scales. She's a kind, intelligent and confident woman who is going to do so well out there in the real world.

The other student I thought was going to cause a riot in that first class. He butted heads with almost every other student in that class. The more I got to know about his story the more I understood his behavior. He was older than most of his peers (he is 20 today) and came to us as a sophomore without very much formal education in his past. We went through that first bumpy ride of being new to school together. This young man is one of the kindest, most thoughtful students I've ever met. He's the one that makes me worry that he will be alright, not because he lacks promise or skills (he has so much of both), but because he was dealt a garbage hand in life that he didn't deserve. This year, I attended the wake of his family's matriarch. It was a devastating loss for him, but even more, it meant instability and potential homelessness. At the wake, his aunts and uncles seemed surprised to see so many people from school supporting him. I think their ideas of who he was were skewed in some way and I desperately hope that we shifted those views by being there and supporting him.

As a special education teacher, I'm not the one most kids will remember when they think back on high school.To be honest, I bet 80% of this graduating class have never laid eyes on me. But the one's who I know, the ones who I struggled with, the ones whose struggle I know so well... I will remember them.

This graduating class taught me about confidence and resilience. I think I'll focus a few posts on those two ideas. I think every year I'll reflect on the lessons the students in that class have taught me and helped me grow as a teacher.