A Medical Condition
The Player(s)
It was the first week of school. I spent most of class time the first 2 days going over policies, procedures, routines… Typical beginning-of-year stuff. I’m currently teaching middle school – 6th-8th grade and I have some of each of them. (If you’ve never done so, give a middle school-aged student a chance. If you treat them like they’re people, instead of what the stereotypes say they are, you’ll be very pleasantly surprised!)
The Setup
I have a medical condition. It’s difficult when the teacher has a medical condition, particularly when things that other people can do exascerbate the situation. There are things people can do that cause medical problems for me.
The Sequence
We’d been through my list. All of my classes had heard about what my particular medical issue is and I had asked for their help to ensure my overall good health.
It’s been my experience that, when a teacher is up-front with students and speaks with them instead of at them or down to them, students are prone to listening and taking things to heart.
[student a] came up to me in the hallway before class. [student a] asked to use the restroom. This isn’t uncommon: as long as they let me know where they’re going, I’d rather students be just a minute or 2 late to class rather than have to leave class for 5-6 minutes in the middle. [student a] looked a little upset, which wasn’t really uncommon. [student a] tends to wear [student a]’s emotions on [student a]’s sleeve. [student a] returned to the classroom a couple of minutes later and we got busy.
[student a] was the last one out of the classroom at the end of the period and stopped to talk. “I’m so sorry. My mom made me put something on before I left my house this morning. I’m so sorry if I made worse today.
It was in the evening and my phone rang. A colleague wanted to report something that had happened in her class today. She reported:
“[student b] was upset in my class today. The students were talking about the differences between the rules in everyone’s classes. [student b] said it didn’t matter what any of the other teachers said in this particular area. [student b] was not going to do anything that might put me at risk.”
The Denouement
I was floored. I hadn’t noticed anything. [student a] had used the time in the restroom before class to try to alleviate any reaction I might have had. [student a] was doing everything possible to take care of me.
Not even talking to me, [student b] was making sure that I was taken care of, even pleading my case in front of the rest of the school’s faculty.
The Moral
Kindness and consideration from students is always appreciated.
