They really do think I'm their mom.
A couple of weeks ago I was in another teacher's room. He was grading and recording assignments. Frustrated, he showed me one without a name on it. I told him whose it was after a quick glance. He looked at me incredulously. I had never seen his class list. Indeed that was the only student without a grade.
I have a pile of books, notebooks, etc. that students have left in my room. If I notice them, I stick them in a pile by the pencil sharpener. No one ever looks to see if their missing items are there. Today, I was very mom-like...I got sick of the pile, so I found out where all these delinquent students were, and hand-delivered their belongings.
One notebook didn't have a name on it. It didn't matter. I knew whose it was. That's right. I knew. As I went downstairs to deliver it, I realized that it was a waste of my time. Her flight to Texas left at 10 am today. She wasn't at school.
Yesterday, I was talking with a student in class. He was a little fired up about something, which is a pretty common occurrence with this young man. (I don't remember what it was about; that's how much this was not a big deal) I'm not sure if I wasn't responding fast enough to him, or he was disagreeing with me, or what, but his reaction: MOM! Yep. He called me mom. Loudly. In front of 26 other students.
Passing period. Crying girl walks by. I call her into my room. I instantly become the sound board for the relationship drama, even though I have unabashedly encouraged the end of this relationship for over a year.
Today is the first home game for the freshmen boy's basketball team. Twice I had a team member say to me "Miss O'Brien, are you going to my game tonight?" (Note: my game, not our game, or the team's game, but my game) Really? And when I said I wasn't going, both students got upset and offended (mind you, these were two separate occasions). One required consolation by way of promising I would go to one of his games this season, just not today.
How have I become a mother to hundreds of children to whom I did not give birth? I certainly did not adopt any of them. Heck, they've never even been to my house. They don't even know what town it's in.
Oh, man!!! I miss hearing these stories in person, but I can totally picture you saying them! And I'm laughing. Thank you so much for sharing!
ReplyDeletei remember when i had a favorite teacher i used to call her mom its one of the coolest things in the world to do to actually find a teacher whos like a mom u should be proud
ReplyDeleteThanks man, I DO take it as a compliment....
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