An Unforseen Influence

I had several topic ideas in mind for my post this week, but I decided to completely change my topic today, on the due date. As experienced participants of English classes, we know that this normally is not a good idea. However, today's experience in my first period class taught me a valuable lesson about being a teacher.

In this particular class, a student had been absent all week last week with a bad allergic reaction. This student, we'll rename her Jessica, was naturally concerned about her missing work and even came in to class early to ask about it. Mrs. Gillmore asked me to put together the handouts and worksheets we had gone over in class, and explain to her what we did. She had missed two class sessions working through the use of tone and metaphor in two different texts, so she had missed a good deal of information. Her class was also taking a test on appositives that morning, and judging by the look of relief on her face when Mrs. Gillmore told her she didn't have to take the test, she needed some more practice on appositives.

So, in order to help get her caught up to the rest of the class and not make her feel rushed, I decided to go with Jessica to the library while the other students were testing and go over all the material with her. I gave her copies of the teacher models of the graphic organizers we covered in class, explaining each part to her and connecting the information with the text. Working one on one with her, I could really see her progress in going through the material and I was really impressed with how quickly she learned it. I asked her questions periodically to make sure, and not only did she answer them correctly, she seemed confident working with me. Not to bombard her with information but simply to help, I asked if she needed more practice on appositives before she made up her test. She admitted she did and seemed grateful that I asked, and worked with me on some practice sentences that seemed to help a lot.

After working with Jessica, I saw firsthand the great lengths that a teacher's care and attention can reach. It reminded me why I want to be a teacher -- I want to influence students in this positive way and show them that it is okay to ask for extra help. Sometimes we do our best teaching this way.