The Life of a Teacher

You know, I'm guilty of confiding in one or two teachers in my life. They're good for that. I'm just trying to decide how I'm going to deal with it being on the teacher side of things.

I have a student. She is Hispanic and extremely quiet. She never says a word to me. If I ask how she's doing (she comes in my class early every day), she won't respond, or I might get a quiet grunt of some sort. She is a tomboy and almost looks like a gang banger with the way she dresses. She wears her long dark hair in a ponytail every day.

For Christmas she got me a Tootsie Roll bank. For Valentine's/my birthday she got a me a giant Hershey kiss.

She friend requested me a long time ago on MySpace. I denied it. 

I got an email a couple months ago that she had been absent because of a social worker meeting. I got the impression she had some home issues.

Today she came in between classes, this quiet but thoughtful girl who never says a word, to ask me (probably with all the bravery she could muster) if I would come to her birthday party on Saturday.

Does this not break your heart a little bit?

Feeling as though that would be entirely inappropriate, I let her know that I had plans, but told her thanks for the invitation and that I hope she has such a fun time. I asked where it would be. The answer: Pirate Island.

The truth is, I don't have plans, but a student inviting me to her birthday party really caught me off guard. So I talked to some other teachers to see what they'd suggest. One suggested I get her address off Gradebook and send her a birthday card. Another suggested I get her something small and drop it off at Pirate Island in the morning before the party even starts.

The latter sounded like the most viable option. So since she has long hair, I headed to the dollar store and got her a Turbie towel. Since she is a girl, of course you have to get the standard stuff, right? So I got her some Coconut Vanilla shower gel and this really cool loofah net band thing. Of course the English teacher in me can't resist getting her a little journal and some pens. Then a Reese's and a card. I had to buy a birthday bag too. All for under $8 at the dollar store. So I'll take it over on Saturday morning for her. :)

I hope she likes it.

Comments

Tonia Z said…
good call. Hard one to decide what to do with that. That's probably the NUMBER ONE most difficult thing to do in teaching.
May 26, 2010 at 10:29 PM
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