Students are the joy of teaching.

Everyday, I get more and more of an appreciation from my students: today was a difficult day, learning about the loss of one of my former students. The world sat still for a minute; unsure of how I was supposed to feel or react. Going to my placement which is where this student also attended this year was more difficult than I thought it was going to be. Even though my students were not aware of what was going on within my life, I think some could tell that I wasn't 100%.

Two of my students are a little obsessed with the novel that we are currently reading: Into the Wild is a novel about a young man who basically runs away from his family and ends up in Alaska. The main character, Chris McCandless changes his name part way through the novel and goes by Alexander Supertramp. So of course, these two students were obsessed with the name: so much so that during an essay where they had to write about what they would change their name to one of them choose "Alexander Supermegatramp- Magoo". But seriously, I could not stop laughing.

This same student who I will call by his 'sir' name: Alexander Supermegatramp-Magoo. He talks about things that most people do not even know about. Also probably has the biggest dislike for Donald Trump that I have ever seen. The other day during a vocabulary assignment, they class was given the assignment to create a postcard using four of the vocabulary that they had. I have added his postcard with his permission (of course). First thing that I noticed was the date: 6 and a half months before I was even born so I was automatically interested in what was about to play out. Next I noticed that he was writing this postcard to Jodie Foster! Being a little older and understanding about Jodie Foster's stalker, John Hickley. I laughed uncontrollably. Seriously though, this 15 year old student who knows about John Hickley and his crazy love obsession with 13 year old Jodie Foster. After my mentor teacher and I laughed about how well this students used his vocabulary words and the massive amount of information that he knew. He asked if he could explain his postcard to his classmates- his classmates laughed and shrieked about how such an old man could be obsessed with a 13 year old girl. 

This is also the student who sings the first part of Smash mouth's All Star but could not sing the middle lyrics. I have now had this song stuck in my head for 4 hours!

All in all, what I have learned today and something that I have talked about within my blog post before is the idea that you cannot force your good thoughts onto your students. Some of your students will forever be students that get lost in life without a trace and some will forever be in your memories. Good things could happen to them or bad things could happen to them, you have no control of their fates but you should always treat students like they are going to rule the world. You should cherish every moment that you have with these students and you should be positive with the outlook that you have for them. Some of them do not have people in their lives that are pushing them in the right direction. Probably more the opposite, some of your students probably have a pretty crappy home life and they come to school to get away from the terrible things that are going on at home. Remember that the next time that you snap at a student or you shoot down ideas that a student has because you are looking at them in a negative life. Embrace your students to do all the good in the world and be a steady rock of support. We have the best job of them all: Molding the minds of our future.

That's all for now.
Ms. Perret




Alexander Supermegatramp-Magoo's postcard.