When we arrived at the home where Beau was staying, the girls stayed in the car while I went in, just to be safe. Upon sight, Beau was a beautiful, seemingly healthy dog with a big bark and a very nervous demeanor. Beau's backstory includes being abandoned in the farm country of Southern Indiana during a very cold streak of days. When found, he wouldn't allow his rescuers to approach him for a week. He continued to roam, ice hanging from his body, for days. Finally, his rescuers were able to earn enough of his trust to get him into a car and back to their house, where he has been for the past two weeks. When I met him, he was living with quite a few (at least 3) large, energetic dogs.
I couldn't approach Beau at first, as he barked at me, not quite aggressively but certainly with apprehension. Eventually, I was able to give him a treat, and he allowed me to pet his back--but not with an open hand. I had to close my hand and avoid Beau's head when I tried to pet him. He clearly had been hit with an open hand upon his head before and was very cautious of any movement that resembled this.
Once we got into the car, Beau was significantly less nervous. He decided to ride shotgun, and watched the scenery pass for a while...
..
...before he settled in for a deep sleep.
So what does this story have to do with teaching?
Everything.
Because everyone needs love and safety...human and dog alike.
And when we find it, we know instantly. Our souls are at rest immediately. We find our "safe places".
Like Beau, some of our students are wandering in fields of cold and loneliness...some of them are literally homeless, and others find school to be their safe place, their "home". I was certainly one of those students--school was always the place I wanted to be. School activities kept me there as much as possible. As young as 6th grade, I was able to find early morning basketball practices, after school softball games, and weekend speech tournaments to keep me at school. Just like me, many of our students feel most purposeful, most successful, most knowledgeable while at school.
As teachers, we often KNOW that some students love school, but we are often unaware of the number of students who wouldn't mind staying there for as long as possible each day. For those of us who teach older students, this is even less obvious, because students can mask it in extracurricular activities, just like I did.
In the end, however, school is home for many of our students. It is where they are fed, physically, mentally, and spiritually. For many of our students, school offers safety, security, and a fresh start. It is important to never stop giving students a chance to be made new.
I have lost 4 students so far this year to alternate settings, whether alternate schools or juvenile detention. Each of these students saw school as their safe place, and it was their returns home each day, weekend or school break that caught them up into the danger of their environments. Some might say that it is better that they are gone, for the "good" of the other students, but I don't necessarily believe so. If these students were able to stay in their "safe place" all the time, I wonder if they could finally put their environmental difficulties behind them?
In the end, I hope you take from this post a desire to reach out to those students who never talk to you, to reach out anew to the "difficult" kids who give you lots of attitudes, to smile and greet the students who say they "hate" your class.
Our kids are master roleplayers, but underneath, they are looking for a place to rest, to be surrounded with warmth, and to finally be home.
Just like Beau...
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