Student of the Month: April 2012
I should probably admit that it isn’t actually my turn this month to present this award for the Language Arts department. It was supposed to be someone else’s, but I still had one special student that very much deserved to be recognized, and I knew this was the last Student of the Month breakfast, so….well, here I am.
In the chaos of the classroom, we teachers sometimes overlook students like Mim: those that just quietly do everything we want them to. But even though she and I don’t talk much during class, eight months of reading the weekly posts in her Honors English blog make me think I know Mim better than most of the other teachers in this line. For example, I know how torn she is about having to split her athletic efforts between track and soccer, both of which she excels at. I know how much that “warning N” in geography tormented her (and her mom?). I learned a thing or two about the Black Death, Charles Darwin, and the Israeli-Palestine conflict. I know that Mim’s “perfect boy” is at least seven inches taller than she is, fit (you know: good muscles, active, etc.) with a good acne-free back and nice shoulders, and free of any smell that is not a nice manly deodorant. (Oh, and he has to be passionate about something!) And, Mim, just so you know, I DID join you in your effort to “Love more,” but I couldn’t bring myself to love being interrupted by the intercom during class.
Mim is a gifted writer. Her “voice” is clear and fluent, and she seldom makes a punctuation error, which is almost unheard of for most adults, let alone ninth graders. Her blog is by turns funny, sad, spiritual, informative, always honest, and always Human. So even though I never had time to comment on it, I did always look forward to see what she said next week.
Like I said, sometimes we take such students for granted. But, Mim, I want you to know that I don’t take you for granted. I was glad every day you came into my room because it is students like you that make the rest of them tolerable, and I’m glad I got to give you this recognition. You deserve it!
In the chaos of the classroom, we teachers sometimes overlook students like Mim: those that just quietly do everything we want them to. But even though she and I don’t talk much during class, eight months of reading the weekly posts in her Honors English blog make me think I know Mim better than most of the other teachers in this line. For example, I know how torn she is about having to split her athletic efforts between track and soccer, both of which she excels at. I know how much that “warning N” in geography tormented her (and her mom?). I learned a thing or two about the Black Death, Charles Darwin, and the Israeli-Palestine conflict. I know that Mim’s “perfect boy” is at least seven inches taller than she is, fit (you know: good muscles, active, etc.) with a good acne-free back and nice shoulders, and free of any smell that is not a nice manly deodorant. (Oh, and he has to be passionate about something!) And, Mim, just so you know, I DID join you in your effort to “Love more,” but I couldn’t bring myself to love being interrupted by the intercom during class.
Mim is a gifted writer. Her “voice” is clear and fluent, and she seldom makes a punctuation error, which is almost unheard of for most adults, let alone ninth graders. Her blog is by turns funny, sad, spiritual, informative, always honest, and always Human. So even though I never had time to comment on it, I did always look forward to see what she said next week.
Like I said, sometimes we take such students for granted. But, Mim, I want you to know that I don’t take you for granted. I was glad every day you came into my room because it is students like you that make the rest of them tolerable, and I’m glad I got to give you this recognition. You deserve it!
posted by MRT at 7:15 AM
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