Teacher: What happened when a troubled little boy appeared at my classroom door
Here’s a post that shows the reality of teaching in a high-poverty school in a way that goes beyond the usual policy talking points. This is what teachers and students really deal with — and how a thoughtful teacher deals with tough situations. This was written by Michelle Strater Gunderson, a 29-year teaching veteran who teaches first grade in the Chicago Public Schools. She is a doctoral student at Loyola University in curriculum and instruction. This appeared on the interesting Living in Dialogue blog, and I am republishing it with Gunderson’s permission.
By Michelle Gunderson
One of the things you learn as an elementary teacher in the Chicago Public Schools is to always have materials available and an extra desk or space for new students. You learn to expect the unexpected and that a child can show up on your doorstep at any minute of any day.
And usually it is not an easy matter. Many times children who come to us after the first weeks of school are displaced or have parents who are seeking a school that can help their troubled child.
These were the thoughts on my mind when a little boy appeared at my classroom door in the second week of school this fall, an hour after school had started, without an adult accompanying him to the class. I took a deep breath and tried to talk myself into a place of calm. There was so much on my teaching plate already, and I did not know if I was going to be able to embrace one more Herculean task.
And I was right. The child who was given into my care needed me in countless ways.
His family was experiencing housing insecurity, and he had been exposed to very little schooling. Everything was new – letters and sounds, standing in line to go to recess, putting a coat in a locker. The Chicago schools extended to a seven-hour day three years ago, and at every minute of that seven-hour day, this young child was being asked to climb new mountains of learning. It Teacher: What happened when a troubled little boy appeared at my classroom door - The Washington Post:
