Wow.
A month or so ago, late at night, my dad called me and asked me if I had locked the doors to the house. Um, I think so. He said go make sure. Now, if you have ever been to my dad's house, you know that he never locks his doors. I'm not even sure his door are equipped with locks. I still am not sure on the details, but the gist of it is that my brother-in-law snapped. I don't know what triggered it. All I know is that there were many threats made, some veiled, some explicit about what he would do if my sister didn't make him happy. I have never before been so afraid for myself of the people I love. Not only is my dad locking his doors, he has been carrying a gun around with him. Again, if you know my dad, you know that the likelihood of him shooting himself in the foot is much greater than him actually defending himself.
To say the last month has been a struggle really doesn't begin to describe it. Slowly, we are starting to wake up from the nightmare and get back to life.
Oddly enough, during the last few weeks, school was least stressful part of my day. Sort of. Have you ever tried to teach while in crisis? I would say that it is extremely difficult, but I really don't remember through all the fog. Autopilot got me up through Christmas break.
Editing lesson plans? Didn't get done.
Word wall? I think I was supposed to put one up.
Reflection on teaching? Was I teaching?
But it's a new year. A good time to step back, take stock in what I am doing (right and wrong).
So Happy New Year everyone! Hope it's the best one yet :)
3 comments:
Wow. What a story. It sucks that you are having to go through this.
But let's think a bit (and I'm not trying to downplay your situation).
How many of your students knew/know about this crisis? Teaching is hard, even harder with this type of crisis.
How many of our students come to us in crisis? How do they learn? They don't have the skill set to manage learning and a crisis. It must be damn near impossible.
I hope that your situation gets better. I resolve to spend more time listening to the people around me to try and pick up on their crisis to help them make it through.
Thanks for sharing.
Knaus - I know what you mean. I have thought a LOT (especially lately) about what kinds of baggage my kids bring in with them. I know that some of them live lives I can't possibly imagine. Until you are under that type of stress, I don't know if you truly know how you would handle it. This is my job, and therefore, is an important part of my life, so I think it was relatively easy for me to focus on keeping up with it. As an adult, I have coping skills that I know I didn't have as a child and I know many of my kids have not developed yet. For many kids, school is NOT a priority, so I can see how easy it would be for them to shut down when faced with the ultimatums we often give them.
I hope your family continues to be safe. Many students come to school in survival mode. Even though they hate the academics it often represents their safest sanctuary. Kudos to you for reaching out and trying another way to reach them. I think it is very important that we support each other as we try to learn what works with our ever changing students.
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