John Lennon said it best: “Life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans.”  Sometimes this little fact is something we need to be reminded of while we’re stressing to get all our lessons ready or worried about whether or not our classes are prepared for whatever standardized testing their going to face to determine the fate of their future.  These kids have a tremendous amount going on that we may never really be aware of that is taking (gasp!) precedence over our classes.

I look at my own life for example:  Not too long ago my parents went through a divorce that radically influenced the way I look at my students.  My first child had just been born, I was working full time, going to grad school at night, staying up late with a screaming child, and then dealing with the stresses of my parents’ separation.  By the time the actual divorce was going through (two years later) I was taking a full course load at night to finish Seminary, my second daughter had been born, I was working two jobs, and still trying to cope with the fact that my parents’ 30-year marriage had fallen apart.  It really does not matter your age, divorce is just not something any child is really “ready” to deal with.

My second year teaching I had a student whose father died early in the year from a brain tumor.  In the same class I had a student who was diagnosed with diabetes, another whose sister was pregnant and had to come back from college, two whose parents were going through divorces, and one who had to be taken out of school and put in rehab.  All of this and it wasn’t even the end of the first marking period!  For me to tell these students that their classwork was more important than dealing with the issues facing their lives would be heartless.  At the same time, we also have to help them understand that they can’t just let their work go to the wayside while they are coping.  Part of our job as educators is not just to feed content into these empty vessels.  We have to be mindful of while making our plans for the days to come that the lives we influence also have lives they are living outside the safety of the school walls.  Our main job is to help our students to understand how to seek knowledge for themselves while also taking care of business at home.

Sources:

G. J. Charlet III’s photostream

(for those who don’t get the TCB reference)