When the Sadness Comes

On average, students spend more than 1,000 hours/yr with their teacher.  That number is astonishing. In all my years of teaching, I never stopped to think about time with my students in terms of hours spent with them. 

I guess that is because I never believed hours spent with them mattered much. To me, it was about building relationships with them. In this day of age of "rigorous instruction" and pushing to spend every single minute in the classroom doing curriculum, the relational part of teaching is dying away.  In fact, taking classroom time to establish relationships is seen more as a cover for lack of content knowledge or means of avoiding rigor. 

It gives me a lot of pleasure to connect with my students on a real and personal level. I like to know what their favorite color is, what is their favorite thing to do, how many siblings do they have, how do they enjoy spending their free time, etc. 

However, when things go badly, this pleasure can quickly turn to sadness and heartache. 

That is where I find myself right now...heavyhearted and hurting. 

One of my students is sick...very sick...diagnosed with leukemia. 

I am heartbroken for everything he will have to endure during this next year (at least)... pain, fevers, surgeries, spinal taps, bone marrow aspirates, lumbar punctures, chemo, hair loss, steroids, port accesses; the list goes on and makes me feel sick. A 7 year old should not have to go through this.  

   Sweet Skyler on our field trip beginning of October

Hang tough man...show that leukemia who's in charge! Beat it like a BOSS!