I’m counting down the most memorable moments from my teaching career leading up to the one year anniversary of the day I moved on from my life as an educator.
Remember the boy I told you about who kept bringing me baby turtles from the pond on the farm land where his family lived? I taught that boy for a couple years. I’ll call him “Greg”. I had him as a student when he was in the third grade and again when I moved up and taught 5th grade. I also taught his big brother. Greg was a good kid. Maybe a little on the extra excited side, almost rambunctious. I think he would have been a good candidate for ADHD testing.
But even though other teachers got irritated with him, I just didn’t. It’s possible I had more patience than they did. Parents used to comment on how patient I was. Honestly, I just treated Greg like the other kids and continued on day-to-day. I certainly took time to interact with him one-on-one. I did that with all my students. It was important to me that I build that rapport with as many of them as I could.
Like many other families at the school, Greg’s dad was in the army. And that meant they didn’t stay past a few years. Right at the end of the year, his mom chatted with me after school and told me about how Greg is unique and sensitive in that he can see people’s auras sometimes. She explained that one of the teachers he really didn’t get along with had a red color around her when he was in her class. However, she said that Greg told her that when he was around me, my aura was always white because of the calm that surrounded me. She mentioned that again in the card she gave me on the last day of school.
I just went back and found the card in my teacher scrapbook. Years ago I started the scrapbook and devoted a two page spread to each year that I was a teacher. I included pictures and mostly my favorite letters and cards that parents gave me. When I started teaching middle school, I began to include cards from the students. Come to think of it, now is probably a pretty good time to finally finish the scrapbook. I have the mementos and things I want to include, just need to make the pages.
Here’s the card Greg’s mom wrote me:
And this time, I do know where to find Greg. Towards the end of my year as principal, his mom called the school and she and I talked at great length about all that has happened with her family since they left my school about 12 years ago. She told me about the little burger restaurant they now own in a city about an hour and a half drive from where I live. Apparently, Greg manages the kitchen there. He wasn’t a fan of college and so decided to work at the restaurant. I am determined to go up there and order a burger so I can see him again. I’m sure that will be inspiration for another post when I do.
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