As Di was talking about her most difficult and emotional
time in her teaching career, she made me think of my own emotional time.
It was last week Monday, the 12th of August 2013. It was
around 06:45 and I had just arrived in the school when I received a call from
my father and he told me that my Grandma has passed on. I could not hold
back the tears. I was hoping that I would be able to contain myself for the day
but no, I was wrong.
My first lesson was the Grade 10 Mathematics class. I
remember one of my students, Rhulani Tlakula, coming towards me to ask for a
key to open the class where we normally have our lesson and the first thing she
noticed about me was my puffy eyes and that I was not myself at all. She
said something along the lines of “Maam, I don’t know what is wrong but can I give
you a hug just to comfort you?” I was able to hold myself but right
before the lesson started I lost it. I realised that my students saw me
at my lowest and my most emotional time, they saw my tears...
When I came back to work on Wednesday, most of them came to
me and hugged me. I have never felt so much love, especially from young
people that I tend to be hard on at times.
It is true that being a teacher is not all about standing in front of the classroom and teaching, you will have those precious moments when you connect to students in the most extraordinary ways.
I never thought that I would ever have a moment when
I receive a comforting gesture from students in class.
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