15 Memorable Moments from Teaching

I was thinking about some of my more memorable moments in teaching so I thought I'd write them down. I am continually amazed at what students share with me. Here goes in no particular order:

1. One day while I was student teaching I had to take a small group of students from my class out around campus for something like a scavenger hunt. Well, one of the students said something incredibly funny (unfortunately I can't remember what it was now) that got me totally laughing. He was a pretty funny kid in general and whatever it was completely set me off and I was laughing so hard I was crying. We got back to class and my mentor nearly had a heart attack - she thought the student, Jeremy, did something terrible to me and that I was actually crying. I have since never laughed so hard with/around my students. I'll never forget that kid - he kept me on my toes.

2. Pardon the language here, but a student once asked me if pre-ejaculate (although she used much more graphic slang) could cause pregnancy. I decided to take it as a teaching moment since it was a biology class and hopefully educate them. Maybe a pregnancy was prevented . . .

3. I once had to counsel a student on what to do after she came to me and told me she discovered her mother was having sex with her boyfriend and esentially paying him off in college tuition in exchange.

4. My first year of teaching I had a student come to me with a 'lady problem'. It ended up being that she, a 14 yr old freshman, had contracted herpes. And, she thought herpes caused AIDS. I was mortified at how uneducated students were when it came to sexual health/education.

5. I was once the first person a young lady (senior in HS) came to when she found out she was pregnant. She was terrified to talk to her mom, but I convinced her to do so and her Mom reacted better than expected.

6. I had several students who were refugees from Somalia and Burundi. They told a few stories of family members murdered right in front of them, as well as young people running around with AK-47s. They lived in refugee camps before coming here and several had lost most of their families, and I know they had many more stories and memories that they could probably not bear to share. All they wanted to do was learn. The girls did not even know which way to hold a magazine up, and by the end of a couple years they could read and write English fairly well. Knowing them changed me and my perspective on life. One of them lived through the situation depicted in 'Hotel Rwanda'.

7. At one school I used to have fights continually outside my classroom. One was between 2 boys who were punching each other in the face and blood was splattering all over the lockers. Others involved girls pulling out each other's hair. I'm not sure which was worse (boys or girls), but it was pretty crazy.

8. At the same school in #7 the students once got so riled up about something in the lunchroom that they banded together and started running around the school in a huge group yelling and screaming and knocking others down. They were unstoppable by teachers and it was one of the craziest things I've ever seen. That school was out of control.

9. I once said a semi-curse word (shit) in Arabic around a student who spoke arabic. He got the most surprised look on his face and then ran out of the classroom and then came back a few minutes later. He absolutely couldn't believe I just said that!

10. I had a parent tell me (after I called home about failing grades) that her child was ADHD and didn't take meds, and as a result couldn't be held responsible for coming in for tutorials because he just couldn't remember and wouldn't be able to do any homework because he just couldn't remember to do it and there wasn't really much she could do about it. He failed.

11. There was a girl at one of my schools who got in serious trouble (police were involved) for sending around photos via cellphone of her 'lady parts'. Instead of addressing the problem her parents immediately withdrew her and took her to another school.

12. One of my greatest guilty pleasures is taking cell phones away from students. My 1st year was the best for this - the girls would always sob and sob and sob because I wouldn't give it back to them. It was interesting to see students in such a tizzy and tantrum over a cell phone.

13. I teach a hard class, no matter which class it is (Integrated Physics and Chemistry, Conceptual Physics, Earth Science). My students are always saying it's one of the hardest, and more currently they wish they could just switch in to one of the easier classes. I am proud that I teach a challenging class and more often that not the students also say that they actually learned something in my class. I don't believe in dumbing down science for students. I continually believe they will rise to my standards. It's generally very exhausting.

14. A fellow teacher once asked me if I was still teaching the algebra (for formulas in physics). That teacher didn't think I should teach it because the students wouldn't be able to get it. I continually teach students how to algebraically solve equations and they are certainly able to learn it. It pisses me off to no end when other teachers think that because our students are unmotivated and at-risk that they are also unintelligent. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

15. I have taught gang members, rich kids, minorities. I fell out of my chair once, I accidentally cursed in class once, I nearly passed out on a field trip to a gross anatomy lab, I have had to educate about STDs, sex & pregnancy, I've recieved about 5 gifts, I have had kids stoned out of their mind in class, I've deliberately passed a kid because I felt it was better for them and society in the long run if they passed instead of failed, I've been thanked by parents and I've recieved one love letter. It's all in a day's work!