A beautiful student

[Beekeeper]

Okay, I'm putting this one in because it moved me. It's long...

This letter was given to me by one of my graduating English students. In 19 years of teaching, I've been given some beautiful gifts but nothing beats this kind of letter. It's even better when it comes from a painfully shy person. The media is full of horror stories about rebellious youth and atrocious teachers, I want to balance out that perception here.

This boy speaks English as a second language. He struggled a lot with the course. His average mark last year was about 5 out of 20. This year it was about 12 or 13, a phenomenal achievement. I won't use his name.

I wrote this note to you for the many thankyous I must give to you. I wanted to say this to you at our last English lesson but my shyness was too overwhelming. I would just like to say that you have been a brilliant teacher in the past two years :oops: You have guided me from a low-educated student, to one that now knows some kind of understanding of English. In the beginning, I wasn't a very good English student and that affected the way I approached the subject. From the moment you told the class that you don't have to be the world's best student, you just have to try your best and good things will come out of it, and I took those words with both hands. Since then I have tried my best in all the units in the subject, even when I felt low, you've always believed in me. Through this, English is the subject I am doing the best in and is one of my favourite subjects. Just two years ago I wouldn't have believed I could reach as far as I am right now.......
There are only a few teachers I respect, and one of them is you. To me, I don't just consider you as a teacher but as a friend that has given her time to help not just me but others as well, to fulfill life at its greatest :lol: :cry: ......
I want to give you a quote that I've made up that links to the experiences I have had in English,
"When day turns into night
When everything seems isolated and alone,
Try your best and give it everything you've got
'Cos, at the end of it all
It's only you that can make the difference."
Well, thanks for making my final stages of my school life enjoyable.


It speaks for itself.

[Dsmoke]

Awww ...
*sniffle*

Isn't it nice to know that you made a difference?

[CFTraveler]

That's so sweet!

8)

Well, that made me cry. It's beautiful that you are such a beautiful teacher, Beekeeper. I can't find a smiley face that is happy enough to represent what I felt after reading that.

[xxhealinghandxx]

:) I like it. I was thinking that The Power of Love section was only for like couple love, thanks for making the lines straight.

Wow you must be a great teacher with students like that. And while I do fairly well in english, this letter reminds me that not everyone does so much and thats why we need teachers that can do that kind of stuff for you.

[Beekeeper]

Yes, there's all kinds of love. Jobs that let us express and receive love are a privilege and so are forums that let us express our happiness.

[enoch]

sounds like he wants to stuff to you :lol: No seriously, sometimes it can be such a thankless job and I can imagine that receiving such a note makes it all worth while. Why can't people do that more often? Why do so many people leave it until the death bed to realise that none of the bad stuff is really necessary.

[Tom]

sounds like he wants to stuff to you :lol: No seriously, sometimes it can be such a thankless job and I can imagine that receiving such a note makes it all worth while. Why can't people do that more often? Why do so many people leave it until the death bed to realise that none of the bad stuff is really necessary.

When I'm dying I might be one of the few people to say "I wish I had spent more time at work."

[Beekeeper]

When I'm dying I might be one of the few people to say "I wish I had spent more time at work."

Is this because your job is about love (are you a professional healer?)

Enoch, no, he's very innocent. Besides, it's a co-ed school with much better options. (Believe me, I've got good instincts for this, having begun my teaching career at 22 in an all-male school).

Personally, I think that kids are usually good at saying thanks in lots of ways. It's sometimes embarrassing, though, to do it in front of your peers. Girls will draw hearts on their work and write, "I luv ya, miss" and kids that you help in an e-mail invariably send thanks and often tag on something like, "You're a legend."

[Beekeeper]

Evidence,

Two e-mails today:
Hi Miss,

How are you? Just wanted to let you know I think I went ok in the exams. I
didn't like the first paper like at all ay. Ah well...I think I went pretty
alright in the second paper though. I loved the question we got on 'Witness'! I
didn't talk as much crap as I usually do in exams and I tied it back to the
question heaps (I just hope I understood the question properly haha!)
So thanks heaps for everything you've done for me this year. It's really
appreciated!

Take care and I'll keep in touch =)

Byeee, Nicole -xox-

P.S: Hey, who was it that wrote 'The Road Not Taken'?...haha I DON'T CARE!! Lol
yay...no more journey =D hahaa toodles!

HeY


Just wana say thanks for the effort you put in for me thru the past 2 yrs..

I no at times i woulda been a little punk in class haha but yeh i wil b honest
it wasnt my fav subject haha but yeh jst wana say thanks

Oh with the exams im pretty confident i should go well in both.

In the area of study in total i wrote 18 pages, 8 pages for the away section..I
feel really good about that part and sure i will do well

The modules i am confident wit as well, in total i wrote about 20 pages, 6 for
dialogue, 6 or 7 for witness i think?? and 8 pages for raw..I cant remember but
close enough to that many pages.

I finishd all sections besides raw i got half of the conclusion written out..Im
aiming for at least 70% in both exams, anything under that i will be quite
disappointed with

Well anyways THANK YOU for the last 2 yrs you were great!!


See ya around

Ben P


Nice kids, hey!

[Beekeeper]

Their final results came in today. They did well! Yipee!!

[Beekeeper]

School swimming carnival today so I've just checked my e-mails. One of my lovely colleagues sent this around:

YOU MIGHT BE A TEACHER IF...

* You want to slap the next person who says "It must be nice to have all
those holidays!"
* You can tell it's a full moon without looking outside.
* When out in public, you feel the urge to talk to strange children and correct their behaviour.
* You can 'hold on' until after lunchtime playground duty.
* You can go to the loo, take a phone call, have a conference with a colleague, tend to first aid and have a cup of coffee in 20 minutes.
* You check for spelling and punctuation errors in every piece of writing you see.
* You walk around shopping centres wearing face paint, stickers and a daisy chain, and don't even notice the stares.
* You look 50 before you are 30.
* You can't pick a name for your unborn child as every name reminds you of a student.
* When you can't get your friends to listen to you, you put your hands on your head.
* You rate the educational value of cartoons.
* You count you life in periods of ten weeks (depending on term length).
* You can sing all of the words to Advance Australia Fair (even the 2nd verse!)
* You can't go anywhere without thinking 'what a great place for an excursion!'
* You cringe at the way bank tellers grip their pens.
* You don't know the date, but you know it's day 5, week 4, term 4.
* You believe the staffroom should have a Valium salt lick.
* You believe 'shallow gene pool' should have its own box on the new reports.
* You believe that unspeakable evil will befall if someone says "Gee, the kids sure are mellow today."
* Meeting a child's parents instantly answer 'why is this child like this?'
* You believe in the aerial spraying of Prozac.
* You get a warm inner glow when just one childsays "thank you for helping me.

Then I noticed the student I mentioned in this original post had sent a catch up note. It was sweet but it left me worried that he's finding the big world a lonely place. It's hard when you're shy.

[CFTraveler]

* You check for spelling and punctuation errors in every piece of writing you see. I was a teacher for two years and still do this- to the consternation and annoyance of my fellow mods. :lol: Now I have an excuse.

* You can't pick a name for your unborn child as every name reminds you of a student. This explains a lot.

[Gemma]

School swimming carnival today so I've just checked my e-mails. One of my lovely colleagues sent this around:

YOU MIGHT BE A TEACHER IF...

* You want to slap the next person who says "It must be nice to have all
those holidays!"
* You can tell it's a full moon without looking outside.
* When out in public, you feel the urge to talk to strange children and correct their behaviour.
* You can 'hold on' until after lunchtime playground duty.
* You can go to the loo, take a phone call, have a conference with a colleague, tend to first aid and have a cup of coffee in 20 minutes.
* You check for spelling and punctuation errors in every piece of writing you see.
* You walk around shopping centres wearing face paint, stickers and a daisy chain, and don't even notice the stares.
* You look 50 before you are 30.
* You can't pick a name for your unborn child as every name reminds you of a student.
* When you can't get your friends to listen to you, you put your hands on your head.
* You rate the educational value of cartoons.
* You count you life in periods of ten weeks (depending on term length).
* You can sing all of the words to Advance Australia Fair (even the 2nd verse!)
* You can't go anywhere without thinking 'what a great place for an excursion!'
* You cringe at the way bank tellers grip their pens.
* You don't know the date, but you know it's day 5, week 4, term 4.
* You believe the staffroom should have a Valium salt lick.
* You believe 'shallow gene pool' should have its own box on the new reports.
* You believe that unspeakable evil will befall if someone says "Gee, the kids sure are mellow today."
* Meeting a child's parents instantly answer 'why is this child like this?'
* You believe in the aerial spraying of Prozac.
* You get a warm inner glow when just one childsays "thank you for helping me.

Then I noticed the student I mentioned in this original post had sent a catch up note. It was sweet but it left me worried that he's finding the big world a lonely place. It's hard when you're shy.

I don't understand the part highlighted in red. :?

[CFTraveler]

My son's teachers do something else- they 'catch a bubble' (close and inflate your mouth) in preschool, and in elementary they do the peace sign (two fingers)- silence, like magic.

[Beekeeper]

Gemma said,

I don't understand the part highlighted in red.

It's a common primary school practice in Australia (I'm a secondary teacher so we don't do this*). You get kids to put their hands on their head and it quietens them. I guess the theory is that they can't do two things at once. I think the catch-a-bubble idea is better since it requires a closed mouth. :D :D :D :D

CF, I bet it was fun in your classroom! Now if I could only convince you that clowns are good too. :D :D :D

*Having said this, with integration/mainstreaming the way it is, I now find myself with children with mental and emotional ages of 5 and 6 in my classrooms, including two Down Syndrome girls who I'm teaching for a second time this year. They're cute though.

[Gemma]

Ah, thanks for explaining...

I've never seen anything like this when I went to school (well I finished school about 9 years ago).