Why I teach

Last night I had a wonderful moment that helped me remember why I'm in this job. It's hard sometimes in the day-to-day grind to keep my sights on the bigger picture.

I have a student who started the year off by doing absolutely nothing. Every once in a while, he might put in a few minutes of work, but for the most part, all he did was clown.

As the year has progressed, I've started to see small changes. More work was being done, although usually late, and the quality was improving.

Then, we hit a wall. He didn't like who he was grouped with on a project (others who were not living up to potential) and saw no point in trying since he was convinced that he would fail no matter what. I spent an entire class period debating and pushing, telling him I would never give up on him and never let up. If it meant telling him every two minutes for two weeks to get to work, I would do it.

That day, it was like talking to a brick wall. It didn't seem to matter what I said, he was not going to do it. I was starting to worry about what was going to happen if this streak continued. And then... he came in to class the next day a changed person. He worked with his team and then did a great job. He felt success, which was good. And he continued to keep up more and more with his work.

Yesterday after school, I entered grades for a few assignments he had turned in (late, but without prompting). And his grade changed to a C for the first time!! So, when I saw him with his parents waiting to talk to another teacher at Parent-Teacher conferences, I told him to be sure to come see me. I ended up being their first conference, and the grin on his face - let's just say it's enough to keep me going for a while. I know most of their night was probably filled with hearing how he's struggling, and it felt great to be able to say (and mean 100%) "Good job. Keep it up."