Re: Why I love being a teacher

What a neat story Steven. Thanks for sharing that with us.

Acceptance is everything sometimes. That boy felt like an outsider, and
suddenly he wasn't. It's amazing how easily our ability to learn and grow
can be stifled. We become victims of our emotions. They are fortunate to
have a teacher like yourself who cares about such things.

I have very little experience at teaching, but the little I have (I used to
teach some disciplines that I have practiced, to groups), has taught me how
rewarding that is. If I could start over again, I would be involved in
teaching somehow, I'm sure. You never know, maybe an opportunity will arise
to do something in that vein.

Good on ya!

John
www.RocheleauPipes.com
www.JohnRocheleau.com





"Steven Fowler" <scfowler@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1127352959.422777.217050@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>I teach at a wonderful high school in Atlanta. It's a very diverse
> school; my students range from the best of the best, to kids just
> entering this country from all parts of the world. In my Advanced
> Research Methods class I have two kids who had perfect scores on the
> old SAT. But the class that I enjoy the most is my biology class for
> English language learners. Most of the students speak either Spanish
> or Portuguese, but one boy, Shamil, speaks Russian. He is brand new to
> the US so he doesn't speak much English at all, and is the only Russian
> speaker in the class. As hard as I've tried, I still notice that he is
> struggling both socially and academically. I have also noticed that he
> tries really hard to maintain a positive attitude. Today about 20
> minutes into the period, there was a knock on my door and an
> administrator brought 2 new students to my class. They are two tall,
> beautiful sisters, and you guessed it, they're Russian! I immediately
> looked at Shamil, and you should have seen the look on his face; it was
> worth a million bucks. He was so happy, he could barely contain
> himself. I'm not really that much of a softy, but I was fighting back
> tears of happiness for him. For the rest of the period he helped me
> issue the girls books and other stuff that needed to be done. During
> the lab, he was so motivated to master the material and show me (and
> the girls) that he really understood.
>
> I didn't begin teaching till I was well into my thirties, so I had
> another career before that. I never experienced that type of feeling,
> even once, in all those years. Now this stuff happens all the time.
>
> Steven
>


.

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