Sometimes, on days like today, I wonder how the heck my students can even get up and come to school in the morning. They come to us with so much baggage - stuff that we don't even know about most of the time. They come from homes where parents are distant or uninvolved. Sometimes parents are too involved. The come to us from homes where parents have left or died. They come to school every morning with all of this, and I know I sometimes forget that.
I forget, when they won't stop talking or are irritating me, all of the stuff they deal with everyday. I talk about my responsibilites all of the time but I often fail to recognize just how much some of these kids have gone or go through. More than ever students need to come to school for emotional and educational support. Sometimes the cases that are most frustrating are the ones that need us most, and I'm not always very good at giving them my best. I want to be, and I should be, but I'm not always that teacher.
I have to ask myself, on a day like today, how much of education is parenting and how much is teaching? Are the two different or have they essentially become one in the same?
The less parents choose to parent, the more that falls on your shoulders. It is a sad truth unfortunately. Also remind yourself that you are human and though you may be able to give them your all the majority of the time, you are NOT superhuman and cannot give that much of yourself ALL of the time.
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