Mar 31, 2021
Breanne teaches grade 7/8 in a smaller town in Alberta.
Instead of giving you a formal bio here, take a moment to read the
below email highlighting the story she shared with me over
email...
"Sam,
Thank you for an amazing session today. It was
emotional and I loved how you had us all involved. The way
you presented made it feel like we were actually together, which I
think many of us needed to feel. I'm sure you are going to
get bombarded with emails today but I wanted to tell you a short
story that touches on what you said about our worth.
I teach grade 7 and 8 in a smaller town. One year, my
supervision schedule had me as the detention room
supervisor. This seemed very weird to me as I am not known to
be a hard disciplinarian and I'm a bit of a talker and it's not
supposed to be a social time in the DT room. On the
lunch hours I supervised, I saw the same kids over and over, many
from the year before who were in my grade 7 class so naturally I
wanted to catch up with them, find out why they were there, what
they needed help with etc. Over time, they just seemed to
present this sadness. I decided to email them telling them
that I hoped they didn't judge their self worth by the time they
spent in the detention room, with the conflicts they had with their
teachers, that were worth so much more and in time they would
recognize it. They never responded to me but they were in
grade 8 so emotionally, they aren't always up to discuss their
feelings.
A year later, I ran into one of the boys who was in high
school now. He said he thought I would be happy to hear that
he had figured some things out and was doing really well at school
and was feeling successful. He said he hadn't realized his
role in his own learning - that he was responsible for attending
class and actively listening to the lessons, for participating in
discussion, for reviewing his notes, for being prepared. He
is graduating this year.
The other boy was struggling with family trauma, drug use
as a coping mechanism, and touched base with me when he was in high
school. We try to touch base every few months to just check in. He
messaged me to not let Covid dim my light:) He is on schedule to
graduate but has some challenges ahead for sure.
Both boys said they got my email when they were in grade 8
but that they didn't know how to respond to that level of emotion
but now that they are older, welcome any kind of motivating letter
from their former teacher. I'm pretty sure Covid will prevent
me from attending their graduation but I am working on their grade
12 letter to send them on their way into the real world and I think
I'll reference some of the points you highlighted in your
presentation.
Thanks for starting my day off perfectly,
Have a good one,
Breanne Oakie"
Get excited! This was an amazing conversation!
Get excited! This was an amazing conversation!
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More information on Sam: www.samdemma.com