I have a lot of trouble connecting with my 10th grade students. They are definitely the most difficult to teach, the most difficult to motivate, and they are some of my largest classes (up to 40 students in one class). Many of the students are very intelligent, very kind, and very eager to learn...but there is such a range of personalities, I find it very challenging, as a teacher, to cater to all of them. The students in the 10th year, in my experience, are also the students who don't take school as seriously as the upperclassmen. Sometimes, after teaching a lesson to the 10th year students, I walk out of the classroom in such a strange emotional state--I feel ineffective and unsuccessful, and this drives me crazy.
Welp, today in the middle of teaching (still a good 20 minutes of class to go), one of my 10th grade students interrupted me and said, "Teacher, I have a surprise for you." I thought he might be acting sarcastic, so I replied, "Oh, really? And what is it?" Then, he pulled out a rolled piece of of paper from under his desk and handed it to me. I unrolled it and saw this:
Welp, today in the middle of teaching (still a good 20 minutes of class to go), one of my 10th grade students interrupted me and said, "Teacher, I have a surprise for you." I thought he might be acting sarcastic, so I replied, "Oh, really? And what is it?" Then, he pulled out a rolled piece of of paper from under his desk and handed it to me. I unrolled it and saw this:
Tears immediately welled up in my eyes, and I tried to keep it together. The other 39 students were all staring at me, so I turned the piece of paper around to show them and they started clapping.
I usually talk about how the "little things" keep me going week-to-week; but this was such an incredible gesture. I can't image the time and effort it took to create this portrait. The detail and size, which I cannot accurately capture in a photograph, are incredible, and I am so grateful to have the students that I have here in Kosovo.
I usually talk about how the "little things" keep me going week-to-week; but this was such an incredible gesture. I can't image the time and effort it took to create this portrait. The detail and size, which I cannot accurately capture in a photograph, are incredible, and I am so grateful to have the students that I have here in Kosovo.