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Words Leave Scars, Especially On Kids
Think before you speak.
I’m a middle school teacher. I’ve been a teacher for more than a decade now, including student teaching and two years of subbing. I’ve taught 3rd-8th grade as a full-time teacher, but all grade levels as a sub. I prefer teaching the older kids. (Kindergarten is not my thing. At all.) I’ve tied shoes, wiped tears, cleaned up vomit, and given more hugs than I can count. I’ve learned a lot in that time, lessons that I wanted and needed to learn and also some things that I would rather not know. Listening to a mother take a very personal phone call from her gynecologist during a conference is something that I will never be able to scrub from my brain.
Another thing about being a teacher is that kids tell you stuff. A lot of stuff. Everything, kids tell you everything. Some of it is very sweet and some is scary. Teachers are mandated reporters, so if a child discloses abuse, we are required by law to report it. Been there, done that, unfortunately. Sometimes we hear things that are not abuse, but still make our hearts ache for a student.
Today was one of those days. Out of privacy for the student, I won’t disclose exactly what they said, but it was in response to a quiz question that asked students to connect with a character in a story. The student relayed a story where one of their parents said something…
