You Matter!

I had a few different thoughts in my head when I started writing this, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I wanted to be uplifting. Testing is right around the corner, We are in the long stretch between Spring Break and THE LAST DAY OF SCHOOL. Not too many breaks left (Thank you snow days!)I think in this long stretch we forget what a huge impact we have on our kids and get focused on the thought “We’ve been in school for (insert length of time here)! How do they not know this?!?!”

I’m not really an open book as a person, people that I’ve known for YEARS still say “What! I didn’t know that about you!” But, here it goes…

My mom was diagnosed with cancer when I was 10. I was home schooled for four years before that, so I was thrown into the public school system and Harrison (Wylie Intermediate back then) the second semester of 5^th grade. To put it lightly, it was rough. I didn’t understand the social nuances of a bunch of kids that had been together since Kindergarten, I was reading at a level beyond my peers so I was a “nerd” and I did not understand the math AT ALL. (oh the gaps in my math education…) I was a pretty mature little 10/11 year old so I was “making it” I didn’t let them see me sweat at school, started hanging out with the band kids and slowly adapted to middle school life.

Unfortunately, my baby brother Paul had none of these adaptive skills and was sinking slowly in first grade. Paul was a mama’s boy and even at 6 he knew something was wrong. He didn’t have very much support from home, my dad had bigger fish to fry and his three older siblings were all trying to stay afloat in their own respective grades. That first semester in school was horrific for Paul. His teacher was frustrated (I mean, we’ve all been there, a below average student the second semester of school who has no support from home…) I remember my brother crying everyday not wanting to go to school and my dad receiving many notes, phone calls, etc. from his teacher

After a very rough summer, Paul started 2^nd grade. He had HUGE gaps, could barely read, could barely write and had just figured out how to count to 100. In 2^nd grade. (I can hear the whole 2^nd grade team gasping from here) Enter Mrs. D. Y’all, she changed Paul’s life. She was a tough lady, but she LOVED Paul. She came to our HOUSE to say hi to Paul (before home visits were hip again) She stayed after school with him and when we went to his school open house she gave Paul a big hug and told my Dad how much she loved having him in class. I was 11 and I remember that. She made Paul love school again, and took a vested interest in him. She made him feel like he was worth something.

This is Paul today:

He is 24, married with a BEAUTIFUL baby girl. He is finishing boot camp this week, and he will being going to school with the Navy to be a mechanic on submarines. Paul has traveled, received his associate’s degree and is all around a pretty amazing guy. (I may be biased…he’s my baby brother of course)

Mrs. D may have made an impact on Paul, but she made more of an impact on me.

She made me want to be a teacher.

I saw how she treated my brother and how she changed him during one of the most difficult times in his life. She changed my life- an outsider on her aura of awesome. I know that as teachers we get bogged down in paper work, testing, discipline, tutoring, parents…the list goes on. But, don’t think for a minute that you don’t matter. You have no idea the influence and power your actions have, even if it’s the older sister of one of your students J. 

Dyann