Alright, just continuing this after kind of a hiatus, but I'm glad to be back. I think this is my second or third teacher journal entry since my time away from swell. I'm in the third trimester now and I'm just reflecting on some patterns I've seen. One of the big things that they talk about, to be honest, I think they push a little too hard on teachers, given all the responsibilities we have. But is the idea of relationship with students
Kwa NateKo
@kwa · 3:40
What they can, what they have to move on to the next phase that they really are not worried about all the other stuff that is a distraction compared to what they want to achieve. And I found this to be actually very true. So, like one student I used to talk to a lot, we kind of, I'm not going to say bonded, but talked a lot about time constraints in life because my life is nowhere near as hard as hers
Kwa NateKo
@kwa · 3:36
All right. The second, the second instance. So you'll find, like, kids will complain if you're strict, but in the end they'll appreciate you more because they feel, they feel like there's an adult in the room. And some of them even said that they feel safer, well taken care of. There's more water that, that sort of thing
Swell Team
@Swell · 0:15
Tiffany Jager
@Radical_4Jesus · 4:59
I'm sharing because countless times I've reflected to this time in 7th grade and I've often wondered what could have been the outcome of my life or what would have happened if I had a teacher who cared about me to just offer me a listening ear, to just tell me that, you know, that they were sorry to hear about what was going on at home and to validate me, to show me compassion and, you know, provide me extra help with my schoolwork and, you know, whatever community resources that they knew of
Tiffany Jager
@Radical_4Jesus · 1:00
And the fact that she's even talking to you about it shows that you carry yourself in such a way that she feels safe with you. And, you know, with today's day and age and with you being a male, you do have to be extra cautious. So maybe consider asking a trusted female teacher to do the checking in with her. But, you know, I really believe that those things can make a world of a difference for her
Tiffany Jager
@Radical_4Jesus · 3:07
So I don't know how you'd go about implementing something like that, but there was so much love and support and healing for those kids, and not just for the kids, but for the parents, too. It really did help bridge the gap and offer this extra support. So I don't know if that's an idea or if you could look at any resources like that, but it was truly amazing
How you do that, that's your talent. But remember that the joy you have in communicating to them, these teaching and learning moments, why they're in school in the first place, will certainly empower them when they watch you do your thing. But try not to lose yourself in the desire to help them with other life issues that fall outside of the classroom and then are brought into the classroom because there's just so much you can do
Kwa NateKo
@kwa · 4:50
What I will say, I think, from what I've seen is, you know, loud kids and kids that are quieter can have a lot going on. But I will say the quieter kids, whereas she brought it up, and these kids talk to me more, have a lot more going on than you would expect. That's what I would say. Yeah, it's cool. She has opened up to me in that respect, and I really haven't pushed it
Kwa NateKo
@kwa · 1:45
It's not so traumatic as something like one of the other people said, like sexual assault, that sort of thing. And it would be interesting maybe to get feedback from other colleagues. So that's the thought. I just never thought to do it. I actually even never thought. We have school counselors, which is crazy, just referring them to school counselors, because the issues that I see seem so much lighter in some respects than other things I have come across with kids