All My Lovely Lovelies

I love my students. I've been noticing that a lot lately. Sometimes I call them my “beautiful chldren” and want to hug them all. I never used to feel quite that way about teaching. I used to be a lot more cool and strictly down to business, but starting last spring and continuing this fall, I have come into a more natural balance between inner affection and outward professionalism that feels just right to me. Now, seeing the good and the beauty in each of my students, watching them mature, learning their stories whenever possible, and coming to appreciate the uniqueness that makes them each human is one of the best parts of being a teacher. Oh, I am still down to business most of the time during class. The classroom is a busy place, so we don’t usually have a lot of time for idle chit-chat. I just like being around the students and enjoy the less formal opportunities that come along as they do.

For example, yesterday morning, just as I was about to start my first block Algebra II class, an announcement came over the intercom that all eleventh graders were to meet in the gymnasium to take some sort of test. As that removed 80% of my class, it seemed pointless to hold a normal class session. So after watching the Channel 1 broadcast in more blessed peace than usual, I broke out the games, and we spent the entire period playing Set, while one of my students got caught up on some of her homework. It was fun to interact with my students in the smaller group and more casual atmosphere. I learned that one of my good students in that class is extremely competitive. She kept having to play me over and over again, trying to beat me, talking trash and asking how I could sleep at night, finally resorting to calling me a “cheater” at the end for no other reason than because couldn’t beat me. It was all in good spirits, though. It was fun to see the other students, her classmates since grade school, chide her for her competitive spirit. They joked that she competes with her sister in brushing her teeth in the morning!

Part of enjoying my students has been feeling comfortable with them and allowing my sense of humor to come through. For instance, my students never cease to complain about the dark smudges left when I touch their papers, as my hands are usually covered dark with whiteboard marker dust. In return, I joke with them that my fingerprints are actually quite valuable, because someday I will be a famous criminal. Today, when someone complained that I left their paper black, I answered, “That’s because I’m black." That got a good laugh from everyone who heard it. (I must admit, I'm rather proud of that one. Given the context of race as a white teacher in an all-black high school, it was one of my best one-liners ever!) The next block, one of my students tried to play a trick on me. Several students had been asking for more graph paper. I was telling them okay, as long they bring me some of their trick-or-treat candy the next day. (I was kidding about the candy—mostly!) Well this one student, normally one of my quieter and more studious, started to ask for more paper, but when I got to the part of what are you going to bring me tomorrow, he said, "Nothing!" and whipped out his paper that he had saved from yesterday. I said, "Haha! You're so funny, you get detention for gum!" Which was true, he was chewing gum. But his neighbor thought my come-back was funny enough to repeat it to the rest of the class. I never used to joke like that. It sure makes the workday more fun though! I believe the students enjoy and respect it more, too.

I really do believe there is something good and beautiful in each student. Hey, don’t get me wrong, some students are certainly easier to appreciate than others! But a student who does nothing academically in my class sometimes gives me the best compliments and responds well to any positive remark on my part. Or the student who got sent to alternative school last year for beating up another student turns out to be one of my best, most respectful students, one of the true pleasures of my day. Even those students who give me nothing but a pain in the butt most of the time occasionally have their moments when I just feel like hugging and kissing them.

One of my students today told me I should have kids of my own because, he said, “You’re a good roll model for me.” I laughed at first, then thanked him. This particular student has a tendency to try to butter me up, and I’ve told him as much. Still, I guess I tend to believe there is a kernel of truth—whether irony or hyperbole—in just about everything anyone ever says. No matter how facetious or insincere, it still comes from somewhere. So I choose to believe he really meant the compliment, although I also take it with the appropriate skepticism. On a similar note, I am looking forward to taking two or three of my better students to Oxford this weekend with Dr. Mullins’ football tickets. My best student from last year already turned in her “why I want to go see Ole Miss” letter to me. She mentioned that one of her reasons is to go with her “favorite teacher.” Of course that makes me feel good! I really enjoy having these good relationships with my students who often are far from perfect, but altogether loveable.