So a few weeks ago I started my last semester of school, which is student teaching. I am in a 3rd grade classroom with 27 students, Monday through Friday, all day, everyday. It has been an adjustment, but one that I've gotten used to quite quickly. There has been a lot of new feelings for me in the last few weeks with this starting, anxiety, nervousness, excitement. But another feeling that I wasn't quite prepared for to feel so strongly is the feeling of being so incredibly blessed. I am going to school and working in a district in a very high-needs area. More than half the schools in the district are Title I schools (for those that don't know those are schools where more than half of the student population qualifies for free or reduced breakfast and lunch). I can not even count how many stories I've heard in the last few weeks of elementary school students who have gone through harder things in their life already than most adults go through. These are students who have lost a parent(or even both), have been abused by a family member, have been taken away from their parents by CPS for neglect, who have been exposed to drugs and crime. I could go on and on. I see these same students who against the odds try their very best at everything they do in the classroom, trust other caring adults, and thrive in situations that are less than ideal. These kids are inspirations.
Even while seeing the best in these children, I can't help but think of my own daughter and family. I can't help but feel so incredibly BLESSED for everything that I have in life. I have a roof over my head, food on the table, and love and support surrounding me in any direction I look. I am so lucky to have all that I do.
I just wish that every child can feel the way that I did as a kid. I wish that every child had 2 parents that love and care and support them in everything they go through. I wish that no child ever had to know what it feels like to starve, be homeless, be abused, or be neglected. I wish that every child had a person that made them feel safe, that they could talk to and trust with their secrets.
I want to be that person for my students. I want to be their wish.
