Monday, April 12, 2010
Mobility
There are many variables that affect teachers in the classroom, and a huge problem where I am volunteering is the doors seem to be revolving. The teacher is very frustrated because it is hard to maintain a routine. The groups continue to change and it is difficult to build a 'family' relationship because new students are constantly being placed in the classroom as well as students are leaving the school. This creates new challenges for the teacher. It is tough to teach a student for 8 months and put so much work into helping them, and then they just stop showing up for class. This can be draining on the teacher and overwhelming. It is a sad situation and the feeling of the classroom changes every time a student leaves, or a new student enters. It is a challenge but it is encouraging to see how the teacher stays positive and keeps trying. She is trying to not show her frustration and focus on the challenges. It is very inspiring.
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Jessica,
ReplyDeleteI know the sentiment you are describing, but you have to remember that the time you have with those kids, however brief, does matter. You just might not get to see the end result, but that doesn’t mean that there’s no payoff or that what you’re doing doesn’t matter. I just had a similar conversation with my director of instruction as I was feeling really discouraged about having to drop a student from my class (by far the worst part of my job) and he was really encouraging me to remember that no matter what, we have to hold on to the fact that what we do as educators does make a difference in the lives of kids. Even if the end result is not what we hoped, we still build and foster relationships and let children know that there are positive adults who care about their success. If nothing else, that’s a critically important step in the right direction.
- darcey