The end of making excuses
Opinion by D.C. Lambert/Education Week
The other day, a pregnant student of mine got into a fight with another pregnant student in the middle of homeroom. My co-teacher, worried about the unborn babies, tried to stop the fighting. One of the girls—they each weighed at least 200 pounds—shoved this 54-year-old veteran teacher to the ground. As she lay stunned on the cold floor (we were all wearing winter jackets that day because the heat wasn’t working, as usual), one of the girls burst into tears. “Oh, Miss S!” she cried. “I didn’t mean to hurt you!” Afterwards, my co-teacher picked herself up, injured shoulder and all, and kept teaching. We all do. The kids need us. (more...)