Day 9: Rachel Elliot, Resource Teacher, R. T. Alderman Middle School

Today I learned that one of our students is struggling a lot more than any of us realized before. We all know the student who is bubbly and happy to help and lend a hand to anyone who asks. Recently her classroom teacher has noticed some slightly different social behaviour and he and I met to discuss his concerns. I decided to make some phone calls and check into things a little. It turns out that this little girl is actually living under some pretty difficult circumstances at the moment. Because she comes to school every day with a smile on her face we had no idea things had gotten this serious for her. Of course this helped us to change our plan and provide more appropriate supports for her to provide the very best experience for her during the school day.

Incidents like these are why I became a teacher. I wanted to be that soft place where young people could fall when they needed to. I want to make sure that all young people feel important and cared for in all that they do. That's not to say that situations like this are not heartbreaking, they are. We often can't "fix" the root issue for these young people, we can try but it's often so much bigger than one person. Teaching is so much more than the curriculum and in many ways this is our real work; making sure that students are cared for on many levels.

Rachel (@TechmoRachel) is a middle school resource teacher who loves computers, math, quilting, cycling and her dogs.

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