35.
“During student teaching, I learned to always love the kid no one likes extra hard. I had a student in my class that all teachers spoke ill of. He was ‘never going to amount to anything.’ All year, I went out of my way to treat him like he was super smart and capable of anything. I was the only class he ended up turning anything in for that year, and he really was brilliant. Students will generally rise to your expectations, whatever they are, so I always look for my outliers now; the ones who need someone to see them, fight for them, and believe in them, especially when no one else will.”
“I also realized that when a student says their favorite hobby is sleeping, they aren’t lazy like I used to assume. They are probably working a job to help put food on the table, and sleep is precious. I started pulling these students aside to customize assignments since they were carrying such a big load.
Also, I used to wonder what was wrong with a student until I started having parent-teacher conferences. Some kiddos have to overcome a lot just to show up to school every day.”
—Anonymous, North Carolina
Source: https://www.buzzfeed.com/victoriavouloumanos/teachers-share-eye-opening-experiences-with-students
