Happy Teacher Appreciation Week! (Late, but not forgotten!)

So, I know I'm almost late with this, but I had a former student's parent share a wonderful story with me while my husband was in the hospital during teacher appreciation week.
 
I had this student in my very first 5th grade class. As I remember, this girl was a very eager learner, but had many struggles. One being that she was 1 of 8 girls in my class and she was not in the popular group. It did not help that in this school we only had one class at each grade level and these girls had grown up together from kindergarten. 

Needless to say, the other girls often made jokes about her looks and even went so far as to write a "burn book"about her. 

With all of this mean girl bullying, I knew she was being broken down by their hateful intentions.  After that day, I knew things in my room had to change. These girls could not continue to torment one of my students without understand how it effected her.

The principal of our school was a huge support.  She also made sure the other girls understood the severity of their actions.  After their consenquences in the office were severed I added daily, instead of weekly, class meetings.  The focus of these meetings were on bullying and what our responsiblity is to help stop it.  Even in our small school it was a problem and need to be stopped. 

Flash forward to the day I saw her mother in the hospital.  She was overjoyed by what I did to change the course of her child's life.  She thanked me for caring and helping to make a difference for her daughter.  She said that she still regularly watches the end of year video that I made for the class, and remembers how great the year ended.  

*Tear* I am so grateful for days like this.  It was also a perfect way to celebrate teacher appreciation week!