I know how you feel. Last year, a student of mine lost his brother, who also attended my school. The brother was hit by a car while he was walking home from a dance held at my school.
I've been on both sides of that situation. I was 10 when I lost my father very suddenly. it was during the summer, but I was still trying to deal with it when I went back to school in the fall. On the other side, when I was a platoon leader, I lost a soldier to a freak, unpreventable accident. I had soldiers blaming themselves for somethoing that couldn't have been prevented.
Only a really great teacher (person, for that matter) would care. They're blessed enough just having you for a teacher and sensing your feelings...
good job, Teach. Proud to have a conservative teacher ON the Left Coast! Welcome! I'll bet YOU didn't give extra credit points to elementary school kids in 2003 to march againt "bush's war", huh!?
We lost a "kid" from my battery when I was adjutant. I signed the paperwork changing his status from "present" to "deceased". It was one of the last things I did as adjutant. My former platoon sergeant escorted the casket home to deliver the remains to the family--he received almost a hero's welcome, as the soldier had written and called home so often about his life in the battery that his family knew many of our names.
And Z, thank you for your kind words. And no, there's no extra credit for political activities in my class!
Losing a student is always hard. The teachers don't know how to react and the students don't either. We had a kid who was killed by a drunk driver-here illegally-while the kid was trying to get to his girlfriend's stalled car. Just recently, a serious impaired autistic student lost his father. How much more shut out of life can this child be? I heard one older teacher say that when a school reaches a certain size, that the law of averages says you will lose one student every year to untimely death. I know at my kids' high school, it was eerily accurate. And it came from things like rare staph infections or freak accidents. I guess acting like there's no tomorrow has its up side.
I know how you feel. Last year, a student of mine lost his brother, who also attended my school. The brother was hit by a car while he was walking home from a dance held at my school.
ReplyDeleteDarren,
ReplyDeleteI've been on both sides of that situation. I was 10 when I lost my father very suddenly. it was during the summer, but I was still trying to deal with it when I went back to school in the fall. On the other side, when I was a platoon leader, I lost a soldier to a freak, unpreventable accident. I had soldiers blaming themselves for somethoing that couldn't have been prevented.
Only a really great teacher (person, for that matter) would care. They're blessed enough just having you for a teacher and sensing your feelings...
ReplyDeletegood job, Teach. Proud to have a conservative teacher ON the Left Coast! Welcome! I'll bet YOU didn't give extra credit points to elementary school kids in 2003 to march againt "bush's war", huh!?
We lost a "kid" from my battery when I was adjutant. I signed the paperwork changing his status from "present" to "deceased". It was one of the last things I did as adjutant. My former platoon sergeant escorted the casket home to deliver the remains to the family--he received almost a hero's welcome, as the soldier had written and called home so often about his life in the battery that his family knew many of our names.
ReplyDeleteAnd Z, thank you for your kind words. And no, there's no extra credit for political activities in my class!
Losing a student is always hard. The teachers don't know how to react and the students don't either. We had a kid who was killed by a drunk driver-here illegally-while the kid was trying to get to his girlfriend's stalled car. Just recently, a serious impaired autistic student lost his father. How much more shut out of life can this child be? I heard one older teacher say that when a school reaches a certain size, that the law of averages says you will lose one student every year to untimely death. I know at my kids' high school, it was eerily accurate. And it came from things like rare staph infections or freak accidents. I guess acting like there's no tomorrow has its up side.
ReplyDelete