Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Why I teach

Monday night I spent some late night minutes Facebook chatting with a former student. I never seek out conversations or online friendships with former students, but don't mind talking to those who contact me.  This student was in my mentoring group that I followed throughout their four years of high school and he graduated in 2010.  Everyday--for ten to thirty minutes--we talked a lot about nothing. Sure, I had to tell them about colleges and grades and life choices. And I had to take lunch count and read the announcements and take attendance. I believe I made them take a vow about not getting pregnant (or getting someone else pregnant) and graduating from high school on time. Some of the students humored me while others reached out and sought my advice on personal relationships, family problems, and school-related issues.

To be fair, I'm not exactly the the "close" kind of friendship person anyway, especially with kids.  I don't go around giving hugs (ewww--I want my three feet radius of personal space) or telling everyone that he or she is awesome when I don't mean it.

So when a former student hits me up on Facebook chat and tells me that he's on track to graduate from college soon, I'm thrilled. Especially when he tells me that I was the only high school teacher who believed that he could go to college and succeed. Some students don't thrive in high school (yuck--all that social crap), but I constantly told this boy that he needed to get out of Paris and find something to do that he loves. And I believe that he will.  I have a feeling his next step might even take him out of the Midwest.

And I'm so freaking happy for him.  This is why I teach.

I was afraid that with my new job as a community college librarian I wouldn't have this kind of connection with students. I've seen many students from my former high school here though. I even had one student give me a huge hug when he saw me. But in a few years I won't recognize Paris kids anymore.  However, I think that I'm forming my own kind of connections already. The library is a safe haven here, too.  Students work here when they have time between classes.  Already, I'm starting to recognize students who are here on campus every T/R or M/W/F.  Many have introduced themselves to me.  Already I have proofread emails, helped find paper topics, fixed printer jams, and demonstrated databases and online catalogs. The connections are starting here, and I'm so freaking happy about that, too. :)

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