21.
I will never forget Michael. He came from a different country at the age of 2. It took him months to open up to me, but I was patient with him and it paid off. We had an unbreakable bond. We would do art projects together, we would play, I learned his native language so I could better communicate with him. He opened a new level of love and joy into my life
clouds719
22.
I taught sculpture and maskmaking at an arts summer camp years back. One of the projects was drawing a creature and then carving a 3D version of it out of a block of foam to paint and decorate. All the students nailed it. Except one, a boy around 9, didn’t get it. I sat with him and went over it, many times. He didn’t understand the concept of 3 dimensions, like “what would this side view look like as a top view?” -type thinking. After a long while, my assistant, a woman in her late 30’s, took me aside and pointed out all the indicators that the kid had Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. I had no idea. I’ll never forget his confused, blank face. And my frustration at how someone couldn’t think in 3D. I try to be more understanding, sympathetic and patient now.
doomedroadtrips
23.
I taught undergraduate classes while I was in grad school. There are a few people who stand out but one guy in particular. He was real smart but a good natured dude, laid back. I relied more on papers than tests as a way to formulate grades, so students wrote a lot of papers. And this guy wrote the best stuff. He’d take something complex that we’d go through and tie in pop culture and even jokes but in such a clever way it showed he really understood the subject matter. It was FUN to read his papers.
He took two of my classes. A couple years later after I had moved on and was working elsewhere, he asked me for a recommendation for a position. He ended up going into archeology, professional digs, graduate school, the works. I don’t think that my teaching directly impacted his success – he was a smart guy, he was going to do well no matter what. But it sure was cool to see this real smart dude at his start and then watch him become an scholar and professional in his own right.
I still think about that guy. Hoping he is well. I’ve dropped enough hints in this post that if you’re out there my dude, you know who you are and I hope everything is going amazing, as I’m sure it is.
Write_What_I_Like
24.
One of my students told me as a child she wanted to grow up to be a strawberry and then cried when she realised she couldn’t because she was a human being. Very sweet girl.
Alarmed-potatoe
25.
I had a junior (~16 years old) in my high school science course last year peel the strip of metal off the side of a ruler and proceed to stick each end of it into an outlet and shock himself. I saw the sparks out of the corner of my eye and he jumped up and his arm was in some significant pain. He said he did it because he wanted to see what would happen. Scientific method in action I guess. I will never forget that dumbass.
MNAK_
26.
My mother has 3 or 4 favorite students from when she taught nursery school.
All four went on to be published authors or otherwise great work- including a boy who got into Duke, put that on hold, served two tours in Iraq as a marine and is currently in graduate school- we’re wondering when he’ll run for office…
What always hit me is that my mother could identify these kids at age 4 and she was always right
(She also diagnosed autism, adhd, learning disabilities, who was gay, etc) always right as far as we know
BaseballCollector
27.
Student teacher here. Yesterday I had such a bad day with a couple of students who made it their personal mission to make my life hell. Today, my 7th graders really made my day. The lesson had barely started and they were gathering around me, being curious with lots of positive energy and they basically just wanted to be close and talk. We had a great lesson and the vibe was just so awesome. Now I’m sitting at home in my chair with a smile on my face. I want to remember this feeling forever.
lifewontwait811
28.
I had a student say “If cows have utters, then why don’t they have hands?” Matthew, I will never forget that comment for the rest of my life.
boofin19
29.
I was getting my middle-school certification in my state, this was maybe 3-4 years ago, and my college would place us in local schools in the area to partner with an accomplished teacher and get our observation hours in.
The college had a reputation of putting male teacher-candidates in the roughest schools in the area. (Me and my fellow male students had a theory about this, but of course we coudnt prove it)
Anyway, my first morning there, in a very rough all-boys middle school in the worst part of the city, 1st period a little boy maybe 10-11 walks into class, looks at me and says “What are you looking at, you Ryan Gosling-lookin’ motherf!@#$%?”
I was utterly speechless, lol. I can only assume that was his catch-all term for white men, lol.
I’ll definitely never forget him!
TheGoodJudgeHolden
30.
Joseph. I taught (read: tried to teach) Joseph science for two years so I wasn’t exactly blind to his, uh, limitations; but he really did surprise me when we began our unit on the Universe.
We watched a short video about the life of a star and then I lead a class discussion and we talked about our sun and how small our solar system is and all of that fun stuff.
At some point it dawned on Joseph that the Sun is a star and would go through a life cycle like any other star does, and he starts to lose. His. F!@#$^%. Mind. (It’s not much going on up there though, so I am not too worried about long term effects).
He suddenly has SO many questions. “Wait so we’re gonna get burned alive????” “How much time do we have?!?!” “How come nobody has said anything about this before?!” And this isn’t like when middle schoolers ask dumb questions for attention, this kid is f!@#$%^ grabbing his hair and squirming in his seat totally scared.
So I go “no, Joseph this isn’t going to happen for a looooong time, we won’t be here by then”which does not help the situation.
All that poor kid was doing was minding his business, and doing the least academically up until now. I threw his entire existence in his face (accidentally, I’m not a monster) and he had to take a minute outside in the hall to figure s!@# out after that.
Joseph did not pass the 8th grade that year:/
sha100020
