In the thick of it

I recently had a chat with one of my students. This student came to me a few weeks into the school year and was behind a number of credits - the alternative high school I work at functions primarily as credit recovery. Right when this student arrived, they were kicking butt. They had knocked out a number of credits in a short time. They were motivated to get caught up. I had noticed, though, that they had slowed down the last few weeks and lately was sleeping a lot in class and just generally down.

I approached the student and asked if everything was alright. They told me they were just thinking about a lot. I told them I completely understood that, suffering from overthinking a lot myself. I asked what they were thinking about in an attempt to help them talk it out. This student told me their brother had passed away over the summer. My heart hurt. I gave them my condolences and told them I understood how that is, as my brother-in-law passed away a little over a year ago. I asked if this student had anyone to talk to at home and gave them ways of coping with grief. The next day, this student came to school in a completely different mood. They approached me and said that they had thought about what we talked about, meditated a little, and was ready to get back to knocking out credits. This was a proud teacher moment for me.

This is only one of the many stories I’ve heard from students over the years. Students sleep in class because they were up all night taking care of their infant siblings. Students are on edge all day because they fought with their parents the night before. Students are reserved and quiet because they’re anxious about their future - there’s a lot of pressure to figure out what they want to do and they’re lost.

As adults, we’re typically so far removed from this. We’ve forgotten what it’s like to be a kid and all the pressures, trauma, and emotions that go with it. I’m fortunate enough that I get to experience this every day. I live the lives of students today with them. I then have the ability to use these experiences to better inform how I teach and lead.

This is what we need on the Fenton School Board. We need someone that knows students today. Someone that knows what they’re going through - their struggles, their triumphs, their pressures. That someone is me.