#6thgrade

For the majority of my time teaching children I have always been with very young children, most under 8 years old. This year I have spent the majority of my year with the 1st grade (6yrs old) and spent a significant amount of time with infantil (3-5yrs old). In January my boss told me I would begin to work with the 6th grade (12yrs old), and to be honest, I wasn’t very excited. I remember what it was like to be 12yrs old and I had all the same stereotypes you might have: early pre-pubescent teenagers with their silly preoccupations and their weird awkwardness. The truth is, I was afraid. I wasn’t sure how to impose my authority or relate to them at all.

What I never anticipated was to come to love each and everyone one of them as my own. As the year progressed, I began to learn about them, their strengths, weaknesses, hobbies, crushes, friendships, and fears. Between learning about magnets and practicing for the PET/KET English exams, something happened. I began to see them as people, not kids. In reality, they’re just like me. they’re kids trying to find their place in the world, with friends they care about and hopes and dreams of a future. 

Of course, my girls were the light of my life those days, greeting me every day with enthusiasm and admiration, learning eagerly. However, the ones who really began to change my world view was my boys. When I began the year, I had the same objectives as any teacher: for my children to all pass the grade and pass the PET/KET (national English exams for 6th graders). Over the course of the year, I began to see my students as people, not students. As a child, I was a relatively good student. Faced with a significant amount of pressure from my parents, I was led to believe that the way to success is linear, most of all focused in making good grades in school. 

My students, however, did not necessarily share the same aspirations, most of all my boys. Most of them spent their days discussing football, talking nonstop, and bothering the girls. Many of my classes were spent sending them out to the hall and yelling at them to be quiet. The truth is, I’m not sure how many of them learned the difference between the European Union and Europe, or the way to separate various chemicals. 

However, my most impactful moment came on the last day of school. Adrián was a student I always had trouble with. Impossible to stop him from talking, he was tall, handsome child, with blonde hair and blue eyes, and already older than most of his grade. He has a very hard time taking anything seriously, and I think I have singlehandedly yelled at him more than anyone else. However, I’ve never been able to stay angry at him, and I wasn’t sure why.

On the last day, I walked into their classroom, and announced that I was here to say goodbye. As with other classes, I was expecting the awkward “ew don’t touch me” hug of my 12yr old boys, but then Adrian was the first one to jump up and said “TEACHER!” and came to give me a strong, sincere hug. I don’t know what happened, but I was so surprised that I began to cry. Any of my other boys would have become awkward, and most of my students surrounding me began to ask why I was crying. But Adrian did not, he just hugged me tighter and patted me on the back and said “Teacher, please don’t cry, I’ll miss you.” And that was when I realised what I had been missing all year. All too often we measure success in numbers and grades, and we neglect something extremely important in the development of our students: emotional empathy. I suddenly realised I had never even considered the number of times he had asked me how I was, or what I had done this weekend. It’s true that he is your typical 12yr old boy, bothering girls and disrupting class, but I have never heard him talk bad about the other students or mocking them, as is sadly typical of most other students of that age.

I know it’s important to do well in school, and I know life won’t be easy for Adrián if he doesn’t apply himself a bit more, but I can’t help but recognize that he already has something that many people will fail to develop in their whole lives: emotional empathy. We would all do well to recognize that there’s a lot more to success than just grades and knowledge. My beloved Adrián, for the love of God please talk less in class, but other than that, please never change.