Photo By: SF Denver
About fifteen years ago, when he was nineteen, my neighbor Jon was in a car accident involving a drunk driver. The other driver was unscathed; but Jon lost his ability to walk, most of his vision and his short-term memory.
When I visit Jon in the nursing home, he primarily likes to talk about what he can remember. Which given his age at the time of the accident, is high school. We both went to the same school, so we talk about what teachers we had, our favorite subjects and sports we played. He can literally talk for hours about how fun high school was.
I have lots of reasons for wanting to be a good educator, but Jon always reminds me why I need to be a great one. It’s an admittedly morbid thought, but if my students were only able to remember their school days, for the rest of their lives, I’d want make sure that what they remembered was something truly phenomenal.
Pingback: What Do You Want Your Students To Remember? | The Teaching Game
Truly a great sentiment. Thank you for sharing this one; I’ll be sure to pass this along to my staff.
I debated writing this one. Thanks for your encouragement.
Could you shorten the time span…
What if they only remembered today? Take a different kid each class each day and ask that question…if they only remembered today, what would that memory be? Powerful question.
Enjoyed the post…it’s not morbid
So glad you decided to write this post. It’s a nice reminder to strive to be the best teacher we can be. Our words and actions touch our students’ lives, be it good or bad.
Unfortunately, you have learned a hard lesson that we can all benefit from. I think I am always going to remember what you said. Those are some powerful words.
Today I ran into a former student from the old middle school where I taught for 15 years. He wasn’t in my class but, he remembers a nickname I gave him after he decided to jump down the stairs and broke his leg. (apparently, I called him “daredevil”). I have kids tell me these types of things all the time – they can remember my little sayings or the little nicknames I give them…I guess that means I connected with them. As Martha says…and that’s a good thing…
A poignant reminder that we are creating experiences for our students . . .
Pingback: Not Dead Yet--Celebrating 200 Posts! | The Teaching Game