Sudden Departures

My teaching partner and I received an email today that one of our students had moved to another county, and was being withdrawn from our class.

This is one of the worst things, but I know that for some families, this can be unavoidable. If money is tight, if a sudden life change happens, you do what you have to do. Even so, at this point in the year, you’re hitting a kind of stride with your class, your relationships are so strong, it’s really hard to say good-bye, and even harder to not get to say good-bye.

The student in question had to work really hard to keep up. He didn’t always do that work, especially at the beginning of the year. And yet, in the last month, we’d seen some changes in him. My partner said that he’d been really turning on in math. I’d noticed the same thing in my classes. He was working really hard in small group time in reading, and he’d been a monster at taking notes during our Black History Month biography videos. He is fun and funny. And what really stinks is knowing how hard it can be for a struggling student to hit their stride. I’m hoping that he keeps that stride in the move, that he makes friends quickly in his new school, that he doesn’t slide back to square one because he’s somewhere new.

I can’t blame anyone, but I wish I could. Instead, I’m doing my best to send out my wishes and hopes for this young friend.