It's Monday Morning...and as always the weekend went by too fast. I truly had good intentions to finish a lot of work. I had curriculum to write as well as lesson plans. I don't even want to mention the numerous house cleaning projects that needed major attention. There was definately plenty of work to do inside but then there was this...
Tulips! Tons of tulips in the park were beckoning me to take in their rainbow of colors and so began my Sunday dilema. The temperature had actually climbed to 70 degrees after months of frigid cold which served to add to my spring fever. I really wanted to be outside in the fresh air and feel the sun's energy. However, I had so much work to do and I really needed to focus my energy on work, not the park. I wrestled with my choices. I knew what I needed to do but it really was not what I wanted to do. I thought about all the times we force students to do their classwork and yet sometimes it is about more then that. How many times do we overlook the emotional needs of students that are clearly not of the mindset to do classwork. Do we ignore the red flags they send up because we are so pressured to raise test scores? We have students who have no room in their head for math because their mind is filled with trauma from the night before.
Today one of my students walked in my room with the greeting "Did you watch the news?' I said I had and asked him why. He answered, "Oh, it was nothing, never mind". I was busy trying to get the morning started and would have been very easy to just let it go but I didn't. I sensed what it was about and asked him if there had been a shooting. "Yes, right in front of my house," he replied softly. I asked him what his address was and Goggled search the incident. There was a brief paragraph stating a 27 year male had been shot and killed while sitting in his car. I showed him the article and he nodded. "Was it drugs," I asked. He shook his head no. "Gangs?" and again another shake of his head indicating no. "Was it a boyfriend/girlfriend problem?" He very silently nodded yes. It was like he was afraid to verbalize yes or no, maybe fearful somehow of being called a snitch. I acknowledged his answer with, "I am sorry." Then he sighed deeply and went to his desk, now ready to work. I think he felt the incident and his feelings had been validated by the fact I took out the extra 5 minutes to look it up for him. I was glad I took the time to do what he needed and started the math lesson 5 minutes late but right on time as a teacher. .
I am also glad I decided to put my work on hold Sunday and take that walk through the park instead of working the day away on paper work. I needed that break. I have no regrets that I choose to walk down the bridge into the park surrounded by lush green, calling birds and brilliantly colored flowers instead of surrounding myself with 4 walls, a pile of papers and a blinking computer.
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