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I went to get my haircut and they were very busy so I had to wait quite awhile. While I was waiting my phone rang and it was the robo caller telling me we are back at school tomorrow - we've been out for 3 days due to the blizzard. There was a young man about 30 years old also waiting for a haircut. When I hung up my phone, I told my son who was also there that I had to go back to school tomorrow. The young man said to me "Oh are you a teacher?"
My first reaction was oh no, this guy's going to say something nasty about education or teachers and I am just not in the mood. So I said yes and then made some lame comment about the weather. Turns out this young man had just moved here from the south and was trying to get used to a midwestern winter. So we talked about that for a few minutes and then he asked me what I teach. So I told him I was a sped teacher and he asked what grades and I told him. And I was still just not wanting to have this conversation.
Then he tells me when he was 8 years old, he was diagnosed with ADD. And I'm still having negative thoughts - so I gear up getting ready for the mean 3rd grade teacher story. And he asks me if I have ever taught kids with ADD and I say yes, quite a few in fact. He tells me he just hated school, especially elementary school. He doesn't remember much but he just couldn't sit still and was very unhappy. But about the same time he was diagnosed ADD, he started going down the hall for an hour a day to Mrs Simpson's class. And he said he thinks she was a sped teacher, like me. And his face just beamed while he was telling me how much he loved Mrs Simpson. He couldn't remember the names of any of his other elementary teachers or most of his high school teachers but he will never forget Mrs Simpson.
And then he says "You teachers are getting beat up bad these days, aren't you?" And I said yes we are. He said that every time he hears anyone criticize a teacher, he remembers Mrs Simpson and how much he loved her.
And I start to cry.
Then he feels bad. And I feel bad too. Plus I'm embarrassed.
So he asks me if I think Mrs Simpson would mind if he tried to call her. I said oh of course not, call her, she'd probably be thrilled to hear from you. He says he doesn't even know if she is still teaching but he wonders if he calls the school if they will put him in touch with her. And I say yes they can probably do that. And I tell him that one of my former students recently found me on Facebook and I loved hearing from him. So he said he would look for her on Facebook.
Then we chatted for a few minutes about what he does for a living and how it's still hard to sit still but he remembers to get up and walk around for a few minutes like Mrs Simpson taught him to do in the 3rd grade. He says he can't imagine that all of these people who criticize schools and teachers never had even one teacher they loved as much as he loved Mrs Simpson. Or one who taught them as much as she had taught him. And he wonders why people don't remember that one teacher they loved before they open their mouths and start trashing teachers.
And then they called him for his haircut and he asked if he could shake my hand.
And I cried again.
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