Crying isn't all doom and gloom. I've cried when my students surpassed my expectations and/or achieved their goals.
I had two girls in one of my classes that spoke almost no English. I spoke to them in broken Spanish most days to try and make sure they were getting most of the content. My bilingual students refused to help them and translate for me and I didn't have an inclusion teachers. This class had more than 30 students and for most of the year, only 29 desks. These two girls, twins, only had a 2nd grade education in Mexico and now they were sitting in my 10th grade history class. Bananas.
The amount of growth they showed over the course of that year was enough to make me burst into tears one night. We were playing a game where they had a description of a world leader on a flashcard and they had to find out who they were then using other people's clues, find out who they were. I was walking around checking on everyone's progress and one of the twins screamed "MISTER" at the top of her lungs. I ran over and she asked if she was John F. Kennedy?
Not only was she right, that was the first time all year she said a sentence completely in English. Even the grammar was correct. I'm lucky class was over about 3 minutes later. I closed my door and just cried. Crazy, happy, sobbing tears. Ever seen someone cry and smile at the same time? Nightmare inducing. I know I looked like a lunatic, but nobody was around so I didn't scare anyone.
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I had two girls in one of my classes that spoke almost no English. I spoke to them in broken Spanish most days to try and make sure they were getting most of the content. My bilingual students refused to help them and translate for me and I didn't have an inclusion teachers. This class had more than 30 students and for most of the year, only 29 desks. These two girls, twins, only had a 2nd grade education in Mexico and now they were sitting in my 10th grade history class. Bananas.
The amount of growth they showed over the course of that year was enough to make me burst into tears one night. We were playing a game where they had a description of a world leader on a flashcard and they had to find out who they were then using other people's clues, find out who they were. I was walking around checking on everyone's progress and one of the twins screamed "MISTER" at the top of her lungs. I ran over and she asked if she was John F. Kennedy?
Not only was she right, that was the first time all year she said a sentence completely in English. Even the grammar was correct. I'm lucky class was over about 3 minutes later. I closed my door and just cried. Crazy, happy, sobbing tears. Ever seen someone cry and smile at the same time? Nightmare inducing. I know I looked like a lunatic, but nobody was around so I didn't scare anyone.
Related Articles:
DISD ELL Students
Dallas ISD Teacher Frustration Tears
Dallas ISD Teacher Hopelessness Tears
Dallas ISD Teacher Overwhelmed Tears
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