Life Symbol

This week I assigned a project to my ninth grade students to design and explain a symbol that represents their lives. Their images ranged from butterflies to tennis shoes to basketballs, but it was the explanations of their drawings that were the most illuminating. One student, a male, drew a college logo as his symbol, but went on to explain that he used to root for another team because it was the school his father went to, but has since switched alliances because he no longer has any contact with his dad. Though I don't know the circumstance of the estrangement, this was a reminder that students come from such diverse circumstances and that their school lives are but a percentage of their life experiences.

Another student compared herself to a book, saying, like a book, a person can be misjudged by the cover and overlooked by peers when the cover isn't what they want. I thought this was particularly insightful of the student, and enlightening for me as I am continuing to get to know the now 85 students under my supervision. Each of these students has experiences outside of the classroom that greatly influence their lives inside of it, and the more I know about their whole person, the better I can serve them as their teacher. Building relationships with students is a never ending process that I look forward to undertaking over the course of my career.