It's interesting to see who remembers you after only a few weeks and who doesn't.
Last night, I attended the "graduation" ceremony of my eighth graders who are high-school bound. When I saw the kids from my class, most of them said hello, good to see you again. A few were excited to see me. Some that I thought didn't like me approached me with a "Hey, Ms. Hall!" before I even saw them. But the thing that will stick with me the most is the ones who didn't remember.
One of my favorite students, the one that I wrote about a few entries ago in the student profile, the one who barely "graduated" and I was so proud of for his poems, didn't recognize me. "Congratulations," I said to him. "Who are you again?" He said to me.
Once I said my name, he remembered. And I know it's nothing personal. I was only there three days a week, and many of those days, he wasn't in class. But I have to admit that a little bit of my heart broke when he asked me that.
I always wonder how teachers remember all their students, even years later. I wonder why certain students have influence on a teachers life. I remember all of my teachers. I remember all the student teachers that were in my classrooms. They had an influence on me in some way, shape or form.
It made me realize that if I'm going to have an influence in these students lives, I've got to be totally focused on them.
Who cares if they remember me? What matters is that they take something with them. If they are better people or more comfortable with themselves or more knowledgeable of something, I've done my job. I don't need to be remembered. I need to be influential.
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