Teach It Thompson

Blog Entry #2

blog is not a cute word to look at when you read back your writing to revise. I need a cuter word…

August 19, 2016

It was May! It was the Tuesday back to school in May after a wonderful, long and much anticipated Memorial Day Weekend. I walked into my 1^st grade classroom in Detroit at 7am and saw glass pieces all over my room. I had broken windows. Glass all over my floor, also covering some chairs I had in the reading area. There was a large rock in the middle of the glass. Was I scared? Yes. Was I upset at the mess? Of course. What in the world happened? And why? But my first course of action was to get this mess out of my classroom before my kids arrived. They don’t need to see this. They probably see enough of stuff like this in their own neighborhoods. Schools are supposed to be a place of safety and security. The wonderful custodians had clean up before the kids arrived that day. But my windows that broke were boarded up with wood boards and the inside of the classroom and also had black plastic bags covering them.

Almost, I thought. I almost made it out of the school year in Detroit without an incident. Nothing was stolen from my classroom. No other rooms had any damage. But I still really felt shaken by walking in to my room with glass all over and a rock in the middle of the room. I had a great school year without any drama filled incidents and then this. A great reminder that I was a naïve first year teacher in Detroit. A great reminder that kids face unfortunate scenes like the one I walked into on a daily basis. A great reminder why us as teachers have such an important job to these little people who depend on us for so much more than just an education.

I call my students “my kids” because in our year together they aren’t just kids on my class list. They become a part of my heart.