A teacher's thanks

April 25, 2004

Sometimes it seems like teaching is a thankless job, especially when (as with all professions) folks are far more likely to complain than say a positive word. Having said that, here's a interesting incident that happened recently.

I was in the middle of an activity with my students when the school's guidance counselor approached me. With a very serious face, said he had a parent who wanted to speak with me, and would I be willing to spend a few minutes with her while he watched my class?

Not a problem. I went to his office, and found a glowing parent, who profusely thanked me for all that I'd done for her daughter, who would be graduating at the end of this school year.

She was especially grateful for one little thing I did.

Take a guess as to what that one thing was.

See, I'd given her daughter an F for the third quarter, and her mother couldn't be more tickled.

What this failing grade had done was give her daughter a well-needed kick in the pants. She'd done a mediocre performance the first two quarters, but this failing third quarter grade gave her the sobering thought that she might fail the entire course.

As a senior, she most certainly didn't want that.

What had happened is she'd stopped showing up to school for a good portion of the quarter, and thus was unable to catch up when she was present. As a result, she failed most of her quizzes and tests.

But what is nice about this story was that the student had already approached me a week before her mother's visit, and sat down with me to discuss exactly what she needed to do to pass my course, which I felt showed a certain maturity on her part.

Better yet, she'd already started acting on the plan we created that day.

She showed up every day, on time, and did her homework conscientiously, paid attention and participated in class, and asked questions when she needed clarification.

Thus when I met her mother, I begged off when she attributed her daughter's turnaround to my actions. I insisted that her daughter get full credit for the change.

After all, what did the teacher do?

I simply gave her the grade she earned.