By ABBY WILLIAMS
Sheridan High School Teacher
I am writing for this space this week because the student who was scheduled to do so didn’t. I don’t know exactly why. She cited stress and not being able to decide on a topic as the reasons.
While I was initially disappointed, it led me to ponder those circumstances further. As a teacher, I try my best to keep in mind that my students have a lot going on in their lives. While their primary job, in my opinion, is to come to school and work hard, there are sometimes factors that get in the way of it. What I’ve realized over my years teaching is that as much as I want to be understanding of those factors, I can’t truly understand them or know what they’re actually going through.
This leads to me to my larger point: None of us can know what anyone else’s life experience is. We judge others without knowing what they’re going through. But how do we avoid it?
I don’t have the answers, and I am not an expert on this in any way. I am judgmental just like everyone else, no matter how hard I try not to be. I feel so lucky in my life. I have a great family, a job I love, health and wellness, cats who purr and sit on my lap, books to read and a beautiful outdoor world to explore. Realizing that not all my students are happy in their lives and that I cannot even understand their individual struggles is mind-opening. So, for me personally, the way I am trying to better myself in this regard is accepting that I cannot understand it all and then responding with kindness.
The “random acts of kindness” trend has been popular for a few years, and it’s totally awesome. You could pay for the person behind you in a drive-thru or leave change in a vending machine, or other little actions to benefit a stranger’s day.
My goal is to be kinder to the people in my life, my students primarily, rather than strangers.
So far, I’ve found it’s the little things that seem to matter the most in my quest to be kinder. For example, I love bananas, and I will often bring one to school to eat during a break. Now, I bring a bunch of bananas instead of one and share them with kids who want them. Greeting my students by name and letting them know I am happy to see them and be with them is another way I have tried to be kinder.
Though I can’t know for sure what the rest of their day will be like, I can be sure that they know for the 45 minutes they spend with me, I am happy to be with them, and I respect them as individuals.
Yesterday, I was the recipient of an act of kindness from one of my students, and it reminded me of how impactful it can be. My sophomores have very recently completed their first round of state-mandated ISTEP testing for the year. One of my goals is to ensure they are prepared and confident going into the testing, and I put a lot of effort into that. Allen is one of my students this year, and yesterday he gave me a small gift and a handwritten note thanking me for helping him be prepared for testing. That one moment made all my efforts worth it.
As part of my quest to be kind, I will be attending the UC Berkeley Greater Good Science Center Educator Institute this coming July. I am super excited to learn more about how to be a better teacher using kindness, mindfulness and compassion. The Greater Good Science Center’s website has great info on well-being for everyone and it can be accessed at ggsc.berkeley.edu.
Abby Williams teaches 10th grade English at Sheridan High School.