What would Aristotle have been without Plato? Or Helen Keller without Anne Sullivan to teach her sign language and Braille? For some teachers, the time and energy they invest in their students goes beyond crafting daily lesson plans and correcting papers. They become mentors and cheerleaders, pushing students to reach their potential and helping them fight for what they need. We turned the tables on three teachers and asked them to answer a question:
When was a time you went the extra mile to invest in a student?
Sarina Yospin
Seventh-grade teacher at City of Lakes Waldorf School
For my first teaching job, I taught science at a high school for kids struggling with mental illness. I had a student who had just been kicked out of another high school, and came to our school feeling pretty low. Right off the bat he was in the middle of lots of social conflicts, and was on the verge of getting suspended for bullying. He seemed to have a pretty pessimistic view of people, himself foremost. He got a detention with another teacher and I asked if he could do the detention with me instead. I asked him to help me test some circuitry kits I had, and then started giving him some different challenges to work on: Make a circuit with two lights; make a circuit with a switch; build a car. He started staying after school a few days a week, helping me with projects, fiddling with things, and talking. Maybe we were just stripping wires, taking apart old VCRs, and making little motorized doohickeys, but I started to see a huge change in him; first in how he looked at himself, and then in how he interacted with his peers. Everyone wants to do meaningful work and to be recognized for the good they try to do. Every kid needs an adult in their life who lights up when they walk in the room.
John Fogarty
High school teacher at Cannon Falls High School
About 15 years ago during the speech team season, a young lady came to my room to “discuss an issue,” as she put it. She chose not to beat around the bush, and announced that she and her boyfriend were going to have a child. She was about five months pregnant. Although this may not be a very unique situation in a larger metropolitan area school, it was more like a scandal in our small, rural, conservative community. Though she was convinced she would have to quit competing in speech, I told her I would run interference, and that she should just do her best. After many heated discussions with everyone who held an administrative position in the district, I finally convinced them that we shouldn’t be punishing the girl at a time when she needed all the support she could get. Not only did she work hard and earn a position at the state tournament, but was very successful once she got there. The most indelible image in my mind was of her lying on a cot in the nurse’s office between rounds at the state contest assuring me, “Don’t worry, coach. I’ve got this.”
Artiera Evans
Second-grade teacher at Emerson Spanish Immersion Learning Center
Like many teachers, I spend hours on nights and weekends evaluating student work, planning lessons, and trying to best meet the needs of my students. I attend many of my students’ dance and piano recitals, theater performances, and sporting events. I try to keep parents informed as to how they can support their children at home, and to connect my students to cultural events happening in the community. Many parents have told me that my classroom is an inviting, friendly place to be. I ran into a mother of a student I had my first year of teaching (the child is currently in fifth grade), and she said her daughter still says I am her all-time favorite teacher.
Last year I had a student who was homeless. He always seemed to have clothes that were too big and shoes that were too small. I asked my friends with kids his age to donate a pair of winter boots (the ones he had didn’t fit), as well as other clothes. I also contacted Spanish speakers who are studying to be teachers for another student of mine. I contacted those I thought would be willing to tutor this student (who struggled with Spanish) at a very reasonable rate, as he came from a low-income family.