Tuesday, June 26, 2007

"You hurt my heart!!"

This year I struggled with a kiddo who frequently told me that I hurt his feelings whenever I redirected him. Even if I was handing out work to each child and called his name he would shout, "Don't yell at me!"
This little one has a lot going on in his life, as well as a lot going on biologically. But he's a great little kid and despite the frequent, "I HATE you!" I enjoyed teaching him.

I never did feel like I broke through with him though and have been left unsettled at how little we accomplished. Sure we learned to read, but we didn't accomplish so many of those social goals I thought we would in the beginning of the year.

Today I saw him at the school summer camp. He came running up to me, happy and excited to see me. He hugged me repeatedly. As I was driving away from the school I looked up to see him running along the sidewalk with my car, waving his arms happily.
maybe I don't have to solve each kid in one year. each kiddo is a work in progress, and we'll keep working together as educators to help set a kid on his path. His happy smile today reminded me that even though I'm not his classroom teacher I can still be a part of his community.

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