thank you for inspiring me.

i'm beginning to see how it can be really easy to play favorites as a teacher. some students are just cool. it's a little different working adult ed, as opposed to the traditional k-12 structure, but there are certainly some similarities. the funny and smart students are my favorite, i admit it, but so far i have no major complaints about anyone i've worked with. the night classes definitely bring more energy than the day classes.

there's two guys in my afternoon class on tuesdays and thursdays who seem pretty serious, until they ask me for help. then they start referring to me as hannah montana, halle berry, or a slough of other celebrities. i think they settled on hannah montana/miley cyrus because they heard the teacher say my name and thought it was miley. it could also be because i'm the only white girl in the room. who knows.

the middle aged men and women are my other favorites. they are very serious in their studies, and really care about the fact that they are here to get their g.e.d.'s. they can be a little difficult to work with sometimes because they are a lot of times unwilling to ask for help. i can't say that i blame them. they're grown men and women, and i'm young enough to be their daughter, and i'm helping them with basic math and fractions. it can be really hard to choose the right words to say. i want to be encouraging, but i don't always know how to encourage them in the right way.

there's always the teenagers, who i really like working with. it's always hard for me though. i can't help but wondering what circumstances brought them to a g.e.d. program rather than staying in high school. it can be anything from problems at home, to being harrassed at school, pregnancy, to simply not wanting to go. sometimes i'm shocked by how bright they are. sometimes i see their test scores and i want to cry for them because they have a learning disability/they really don't understand what they're learning/they have potential, but don't care.
there are teens that are getting it though. one girl, a student for the last year just took her g.e.d. i haven't had her as a student, but she is very sweet, and everyone loves her. this morning she spoke at a conference about high school retentions , and brought the place to tears to everyone there. i didn't hear her speak, but she told why she dropped out, how she moved around a lot as a child in a military family, and how by the time she reached high school, she just didn't care. she dropped, and was smart enough to figure out that quitting school would lead her nowhere. after she was done, she did three tv interviews, was asked to speak at two other g.e.d. programs, and was given a note by an old man that said, "i'm a cynical old man. thank you for inspiring me to teach for another year."

my favorite part so far about my job is not just working with the students, the very serious ones, the funny ones, and even the ones who don't want to be there. we have them write in the beginning of the session a paragraph about why they want to get their g.e.d.s. every time i read one, i am moved. each one speaks about wanting to do something better than what they are doing right now, whether it be helping their son or daughter with their homework or going to college. i read one tonight where the woman spoke about having wanted to become a nurse since she was a little girl. so many of the mothers and fathers speak about their children and the example that they are setting. i think it is beautiful.