RE: ADSactly Reflections: Stories and Faces
Oh how I wish more teachers were like you!
All that remains is to give them a little love, to fill them with affection to diminish a little their deficiencies, to flood them with flattery and to make them feel how valuable they are, to become their refuge when the storm is strong and unavoidable.
I know that story of Mrs. Thompson. I put it in the mailbox of a teacher who did irreparable harm to my son. She could/would only teach students who learned quickly and posed no challenges to her behaviorally. She was highly lauded as a teacher, but every year one or two boys would be harmed. It was awful to be the mother of one of these. She would not even smile at my son. She hated him, he knew it, and he floundered.
Thank you for doing this very valuable work with all your heart.
How beautiful, thank you for your compliments, the practice of teaching allows us to get closer to our students, to know their anxieties and needs. It is regrettable that there are teachers who are indifferent to these situations, like what you narrate in your experience, in short, in them there is no vocation or love for what they do.
It's easy to teach children with no differences. The challenge, and the greatest reward, is in teaching those who see things differently. What a gift is was for me when the difficult students, the ones many on the faculty sat around and complained about having to teach, were able to learn in my classroom. These students were so grateful.