Sunday, September 4, 2011

You win some and you lose some

Bear with me in the fact that I intended to post these thoughts at the beginning of June. A more up-to-date post will be soon to follow.

The fact of the matter is that January to June has looked and felt starkly different than August to December. In good ways. More work completed (and comprehended) by my students. More resources. More people to collaborate and communicate with. More opportunities and more access. More support and higher expectations from my administration. And ultimately more growth. So, naturally, I started to feel pretty optimistic. Unfortunately, I forgot that the laws of nature indicate that I’m bound to win some, and bound to lose some.

Win: One student passionately declared intentions to transfer to the school for the deaf, because it has more access and more opportunities.
Loss: That student backed out of those plans before an attempt at transition could even be made. Twice.

Win: One student demonstrated a growth in reading level equivalent to two academic years and growth in math at a similar rate.
Loss: After proudly internalizing that growth, the student would not look at me or communicate with me during the last week of school out of frustration that I may be laid off.

Win: The family of one student made grand plans to interact with other Deaf individuals over the summer to encourage continued linguistic and personal growth.
Loss: The family did not follow through on any of the opportunities they had.

Win: I have an entire summer of travel and fun planned.
Loss: I don’t know those plans will coincide with feeling rested and rejuvenated to return or if they will allow time for the preparation time that needs to happen before fall.

Everything seems to be in balance as far as the wins and losses go in my world. However, in the world of my students, it seems like the losses weigh in more than the wins. Hopefully next year will add some counterweight to that scale.

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