Teaching Hope: Rejuvination

Entry 114

This entry spoke to me on a couple different levels.  Firstly, the student that the teacher tells us about, Jose, reminded me very much of a freshman student here at UMF that I spent countless hours tutoring and mentoring—all up until it was recommended that he withdraw from the University due to his failing grades and low GPA.  Not only did I know this student through tutoring, but I also acted as his team captain within our cross country team (the women and men’s team overlap quite a bit in terms of leadership roles) and even hosted him in my apartment over the summer when he came to visit the school.  Needless to say, I invested a lot in this student—and he wasn’t even “my” student, he was technically just an underclassman.  But the more I got to know him, the more invested I got.  His family came to the US from Somalia when he was in middle school, and he attended 3 different high schools and was an ELL student to boot.  From the very first day that I began tutoring him, I knew that he had been one of those students that the teachers let “slip through the cracks” by not holding them to high standards, not investing the time necessary to help them succeed, and rather letting them get away with “just getting by.”  Essentially, he had been done a disservice by his teachers in that he was in no way prepared for college—probably because they did not expect him to make it that far.

The teacher in this entry was fearful that Jose would eventually drop out of school, but he never gave up on him.  Instead of letting him slip through the cracks, he did everything in his power to keep him enrolled, no matter how “unreachable” Jose seemed.  Although we don’t learn what did happen to Jose in the end, we know that his teacher reached him when he shared an encouraging letter and quote with him.  This small act gives hope that Jose will stick it out, remain in school, and even finish up that pile of assignments his teacher recited back to him.

Not only did the quote in this entry remind me of the situation with the student I had been working with who left the school in that I felt as though him leaving was partially my fault, that maybe I hadn’t spent enough tutoring hours with him or encouraged him enough, as my coach and supervisor tell me, it wasn’t in my hands.  I am just a tutor, a friend, and a captain, and yet I still cried when I found out he left.  But I am also reminded that when I am a teacher, and when I do have my own “real” students and play a major role in their likelihood of success, I will do everything I can to ensure that they reach their true potential.  Having lost a mentee will push me to make sure that none of my students end up in the unfortunate situation that he did.