I've been thinking a lot about my family and friends back at home and how much I adore and miss them! And while thinking about them, I began to think about my mother. She has been so strong for me through this entire journey. It all started when I decided to go to some foreign land where I didn't know anyone or the language...just hopping on a jet and taking a chance. This was really hard for her and through it she kept a brave face and helped me move and pack. She had shown an extraordinary amount of courage and grace through out the entire process.
When I was living in Oklahoma, I was on the phone with my mom at least two or three times a day. When I moved to Korea that slowed down to once a day, then now to even less...sometimes only a few calls per week. Even with this she has continued to support my decisions and to be an incredible advocate for whatever I choose to do. I just love her! :)
But what brought me to write about this subject was something that happened last week. Now having experience in working with kids from both private and public schools, I have seen kids from a rainbow of backgrounds. And I have to say, teaching at a private school is a lot easier, but the kids I get to help at the public schools makes it totally worth it.
We have a lot of troubled kids at our school and I have been doing my best to pay special attention to give them a chance. There is one special case, it is a boy and his sister. I taught his sister last term and now he's in my class. I could immediately see that he was going to be a problem in our class. He was always making noises and trying to get our attention. SO instead of punishing him for his crazy behavior, I just smiled at him and made him answer questions I knew he could answer. Then when it was time to play a game, no one wanted to be his partner so I was his partner. He did an exceptional job, WAY better than I was expecting. He won the game so when we were finished my co-teacher gave all the winners two pieces of candy. He took the candy, then came to me and gave me one. It was the sweetest thing ever! I didn't expect it and I know he would have loved to keep both pieces but it was so kind of him to give one to me even though he didn't have to.
After class my coteacher and I were talking about him and his case. She was his homeroom teacher last year and she said, "He really likes lunch time. He can eat a lot. His family is very poor and his mother left him when he was a baby." My eyes began to tear up and I looked at her and I said, "So he doesn't get to eat dinner?" and she said she didn't think so.
I felt angry and helpless and hurt. It was then that I felt my mother coming out in me. If you have ever seen my mother with any kid, you know that she has the deepest and most sincere passion for children. I have never seen anyone with an equal to the copious amounts of love she personally pours over the children in her life. I know first hand ;) It was then that I realized how much I am like her, it was then that I began to look at my everyday interactions with my students and see my mother coming out in me.
I am so fortunate to have had such an amazing, kind, giving, loving, hardworking and understanding woman to be my role model. She has given me so much and I love her with all of my heart! I am so proud to be my mothers daughter!
