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Heartwarming Stories from the Trenches

I love teaching. Truly the most special part of teaching is the students. So, I thought I would share just a few of the many amazing moments I have had with students.

Students like to share food with me. Several years ago, a very young colleague of mine passed away. The school community was devastated. Many of us, including staff and students, attended the funeral. At the funeral I got to talk to several students I rarely had the opportunity to chat with. While I was chatting with one that I had never taught, we somehow got on the subject of figs and how much we loved them. He mentioned that his grandparents had a fig tree and that season they had a lot of figs. He asked if I wanted some and I definitely did! So, the next day he shows up in my classroom with a big container of figs which took me about 2 periods to devour. At lunch he came back to eat a couple. Oops. They had been devoured hours before by this fig loving educator. He didn't have to share his grandparents preciuos figs with a teacher he barely knew, but out of the goodness of his heart, he did. And when I think about this colleague, Scott, and his terribly untimely passing, I also remember that during that hard time I got to know some students better. Scott Pelletier, you are missed every day.

And another food story. I love cheese. At the beginning of the school year, on the first day, I show a picture of myself in France enjoying some raclette (a cheese typically melted and scraped on top of all sorts of food). After that the conversation generally moves away from cheese and towards science. A few months into class a student of mine wanted to stay in my room during lunch. He stopped by the room before going to down to the cafeteria to see if I was letting students stay that day. I told him no but before he left he said "But I brought you cheese".  "In that case," I responded, "come on in!". He had been shopping in a Russian grocery store with his mom and he remembered I liked cheese so he bought me a big hunk of Russian feta cheese. He stayed for lunch and we had a feta cheese picnic (and again the next day with some other students because there was a lot left over). How amazing that this student remembered my love of cheese from the beginning of school and decided to share something from his culture with me.

The last story is not a food one but still one of my favorites. Several years back my mom passed away. On the day of the funeral one of my co-workers and a very dear friend showed up with a bunch of cards the students had made for me. After the funeral when I had some time to take a breather, I went through the cards and there is one that I will never forget. One of the students had written his phone number in the card. He said he didn't know if it was OK to do but he wanted to share his number with me in case I needed to talk. I didn't call but I will never forget that kindness. He has since graduated and has a child of his own. That is one lucky kid to have a dad with such a kind heart.

Teaching is hard work but the students make every day worth it. It's so important to focus on the moments likes these when times get tough. Thank you students for being you and for your kind, compassionate and giving hearts.



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