Another Day in Heaven, Day 11.

Today during my resource room, a student from last year came barging into my classroom screaming "Missssss Anonymoussss!"  (She didn't actually say "anonymous", but as you know, for the sake of anonymity, that will have to be my name.)  She appeared to be in a good mood, so I asked her how things were going as a sophomore.  She replied with, "Well, thats why I came to see you.  Things are terrible, and you're the teacher I feel closest to, so I got a pass to come talk to you."  Alrightyyyy then.  So I asked my tutor if she was alright handling the classroom, then I took the student into my office to talk.  I asked her what was going on and she said, "My boyfriend broke up with me today and my grandparents are about to die and they are the closest relatives I have and my mother hates me and wants me to rot in hell."  One, long, run on sentence all in one breath.  The thing that bothered her the most, out of all of the problems that she had just listed, was the fact that her boyfriend had broken up with her today.  Now you may be laughing, but this girl was on the verge of tears and that's when I had to really reach deep down inside and remember what it was like to be 14; the smallest thing felt like it could very well be the end of the world.  I just reassured her that "time will heal everything" and that in a few weeks, she'll be happy to have the freedom of being single.

So this brings me to my New Teacher Tip of the Day:  As a special education teacher, you are going to get to know the students on your case load better than anyone else in your school, and sometimes you will have to abandon your role of being a teacher to take on the role of a counselor.  Especially at the secondary level.  Always keep in mind that even though your students' issues may seem extremely superficial and juvenile, they really are affected by them.  Do the best you can to give them helpful advice and provide them with the appropriate resources, if needed.  The best tip I can give you, is don't ever forget what it was like to be their age.  It's hard enough being a teenager in this day and age, but it's even more difficult to be a teenager with a disability.