You know when you work with kids you can’t always tell that what you are doing is effective. Often, especially with teenagers, I can’t tell if the message got through.
Yesterday I was in the planning room when a student came in with steam coming out of his ears (his description). He’d stumbled over some numbers while reading in class and one of the other students laughed at him. He was embarrassed and angry and left the room, coming down to the planning room voluntarily rather than sit in the classroom seething. Smart kid.
So we talked about stuff. How I forgot what my point was when talking to a group of over a hundred people. How sometimes people laugh when they are nervous. He didn’t know that, so that was knowledge shared. I said the person who laughed might not have been laughing at him, but it’s true that they might be laughing at him, but does that person’s opinion really matter. We talked a while about other stuff and then school was over and we all went our merry ways.
Today I”m in the Home Ec. room and that same student was in my first class. And he was talking about what happened the day before. They were all talking together about what had happened and this young man YELLED so he would be heard “Mrs. George talked the anger right out of me.”
I can’t tell you how good I feel. It’s a small thing, and a huge thing at the same time. It’s what I do, so in that way it was just another day. But to hear that I was effective, that I made a difference – that was huge. I’m all happy and teary inside. I made a difference. Yay.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Good on you! Of course it’s a big difference. Beautiful job.
Oh Kate you make a difference all the time! But yay, and, what MaineBetty said!
I did volunteering at my kids’ middle school for years, and one of my duties was a sort of study hall/detention (I called it Teen-aged Time Out). A few times I got an acknowledgement like that, and the feeling is SO amazing! You are right, it’s wonderful to be validated.
Yay!! How great to hear that now, instead of in 10 years.