To Be This Loved...

Recently I found out that one of my students will be leaving us and heading to a new home in Milwaukee. Unfortunately his dad has no say in the matter other than move and have a job, or stay and lose your job. =(   Now, in all honesty, when a teacher discovers a student will no longer be in her classroom, she feels either joy or sadness. Joy if it is a student who daily takes away the learning from classmates and consistently causes hurt; or sadness if it is a student who truly tried their best on a daily basis without complaint.

This student leaving brought me much sadness. Why this family? Why now? Why not someone else who causes drama or frustration? But regardless of my feelings, he is going to be leaving. This morning I asked him if he had told any of his friends. "No." he replied in a sad voice while glancing up at me and then looking at the floor. "Can we tell them now?" I asked him, eager for him to share his news so the children could embrace their last few days with him. Instead of a response he just shook his head "no" while looking at the floor and walked away. SUPER SAD! =(

So, I sent him off to Art class to finish his projects (since Art isn't until Friday for us and Wednesday is his last day) and then told the class so they could prepare themselves for his departure and make him a goodbye gift. As I shared the news, three boys began to cry. Several others got tears in their eyes. "He was like my cousin" one child said. "But he sits next to me" another one said. "He can't leave, he's so good at soccer" said yet another. And I thought, wow, this boy was loved. It's funny to me that his parents were concerned about him not having any friends. I've had students leave before, but I've never had this kind of emotional response from my students- especially from a student who was new to the school this year.

Tomorrow we will finish our good bye booklet, sign a soccer ball for him, and prepare for our good bye and good luck celebration send off on Wednesday.

I hope he knows he is loved. I hope he feels the love. I hope he finds this kind of love and acceptance in Milwaukee...