Dedication

So last Monday we got one of the greatest gifts a teacher can get.

Over the semester I know I’ve written about some of the problems our team has faced infrastructure-wise with our school, either with communicating the times we were supposed to teach, or even the days we were supposed to be there. The week prior to this Monday, the kids had had Spring Break, so it was going to be a good two weeks between us seeing them. Considering that two weeks prior had been our own Spring break, the infrequency of our meetings had led to an interesting dynamic.

We had made sure to tell the kids that we would be meeting in two weeks time. When 3:15, and even 3:30 rolled around, we weren’t that concerned when they didn’t show up immediately, because sometimes the bus came late. When it hit 4pm, we started worrying and wondering where they were. The catering company had come and dropped off the food, and our calls to the school weren’t being returned. After letting our supervisor know, we started making moves to wait a little bit more before heading out. Good thing we did. Just as we were packing up our things, and maybe grabbing a sandwich for the road from the untouched trays, our kids showed up.

It turns out there had been some confusion with administration and the kids about whether there would be a lesson today, since there wasn’t last week. The kids needed tokens to get back home via SEPTA buses, but it seems like the school didn’t have them (or at least that’s what they told me). What really touched me was that the kids said “we have to go to FLCP, because it’s the right thing to do). I know a lot of kids who would have blown it off for some free time, but to have our kids want to come to us, it made me feel like I was succeeding as a teacher, and inspired me to keep working harder for these last few weeks, (even through killer allergies. Apparently according to my team, I look like the living dead with my swollen eyes).

Another cool thing was that there was a reporter from the Huffington Post who showed up and interviewed some of the kids, so maybe we’ll be reading about oursevles online soon enough!