I let one of my students sleep yesterday during class. She NEVER sleeps in my class so I figured something was up. This morning she kept thanking me for letting her rest. Turns out her 2 year old was sick and was in the ER all night. Moral: have compassion for your students.
I never expected this tweet to blow up like it did. I often share my teaching experiences & just saw this as another one. However, some of the comments towards this experience are disgusting & I want to address them.
For the people asking, “why doesn’t she go home & sleep in her own bed?” I hope you realize that a afe & adequate housing is not always available to your students. Homelessness doesn’t always have a certain “look.”
When I was in the 7th grade, my family became homeless as a result of the recession. Because of the McKinney Vento Act, I was bussed from over an hour away to a private magnet school. I was homeless, but still academically gifted.
Eventually, we found shelter with a family friend. But, it was my 5 person family (2 adults + 3 kids) living with a 3 person family (2 adults + 1 kid) in a tiny 2 bedroom apartment. I hope you can imagine that the sleep I got was often not very good sleep.
The guidance counselor was aware of my living situation & would often “call me out of class to talk.” Really, it was her way of just letting me get some rest. Because of her, I was able to still excel academically.
I say all of this to say: I never “looked homeless” & many of my teachers never knew I was homeless. Yet, I was. And I was struggling. But because of the compassion of my guidance counselor, I was able to manage my schooling better.
I currently teach women who are: homeless, being abused, preparing to give their child up for adoption, single parenting 6 children under 8 years old, and the list goes on. If I’m not human enough to recognize their individual situations, I shouldn’t be teaching.
I may not can change the situations of many of my students. But I can ensure my classroom is a stable environment where they feel safe. I know where I came from & I care about their holistic wellbeing, not just how well they write an essay. And I’ll never apologize for that.
