Student Stocking
Welcome back to the Sunshine Coast. This is our first Christmas holidays in many years that we have decided to stay home for the holidays. My kid is totally stoked about staying home and waking up in her own bed on Christmas Day. I completely understand this. I feel the same way. I love the idea of staying home and “laying low” to gather my thoughts and get my house back in order. I’m often zooming in and out of the Coast and it’s nice to slow down and stay home. Many others are coming home too. As you can see, there is no snow in Sechelt (and hopefully no rain too).
Soooo it’s time for student stalking. What do I mean by this? To be seasonal, I should have said “student stocking” but let’s call a spade a spade. Teaching in small town not only do you become a local celebrity but you start to know a lot of people in your community. It’s been 6 years since I left teaching but I do see many of my former students in town or online. I love seeing how they are doing. From what I gather, many of my students are thriving in their careers, becoming parents, or travelling the world. It’s so much fun to see how their lives are unfolding and evolving.
In my week of slowing down, house cleaning, and Christmas shopping… I have had the great fortune of seeing, bumping into, and chatting with former Math 11/12 students. I don’t mean to be student stalking but many of them are coming home to visit family or have already moved back to the Coast to start their careers and raise their families. Lately, I feel bombarded by former students this holiday season. I am flooded with memories and good feelings. I can remember each student as they were in high school like it just happened yesterday. That is too fun and too trippy.
I’ve been wanting to write the journal for a few days because I was noticing so many former students returning home and roaming around the Sechelt area. For example, this morning I bumped into a former student at the grocery store. She’s home for the holidays. She is also a teacher and has been teaching for 8 years in the Lower Mainland. Many of my former students became teachers. That aside, she told my daughter that I was her most favourite math teacher who got her through high school mathematics. Thank you!!! That was super nice to hear… and I wasn’t fishing for it.
Bumping into this student and so many others… I realize that my work as a teacher (along with sooooo many other teachers) had a long lasting effect on students. I don’t think that I would have acknowledge this when I was teaching as I do now away from teaching. I am totally humbled and honoured. I’ve always wondered where one would have the greatest effect on student learning. In the last 6 years, I have taken on various roles in education to figure this out. I’ve been a workshop facilitator, tutor, sessional instructor, researcher, curriculum developer, school trustee, and mom.
Admittedly, I have not done every role in education but what I do know is, we all have a part in a student’s future and the trajectory he or she takes. I don’t want to underestimate that. We are gifted with a great responsibility as educators and I am deeply invested. Another thing I know for sure is success in education relies heavily on relationships and sharing a common goal. Relationships grow and develop over time. Trust and respect are the underpinnings to a successful relationship. Finally, I realize my effect on student learning as a teacher. It makes me proud. TY.