ESL Advocate

As I reflect over the past six years of teaching at DCTS, I play many roles as the ESL Specialist. When I first started, I only had ten students to service, so I worked very closely with each of them. I learned many things about each of them, especially my first freshmen group. I became their teacher, advocate, administrator, guidance counselor, translator, and since they’ve graduated, their friend. It is becoming more difficult to be closely connected to all of my students, now that my case load is up to 54 students. However, here’s one story that I can share from my first group of freshmen.

As I was standing with the science teachers before the morning late bell, Miguel (name changed), came walking briskly down the hallway and yelled out, “Hi Mom!” I hesitated, then responded with, “Hi!” A few periods later, I went into his classroom and pulled him into the hallway, after learning that he came to school “high” on marijuana. I had him come to my classroom, so we could have a one-on-one discussion about why he was acting weirdly. As soon as we sat in my room, the mom in me came out. Knowing that he lived with his grandparents at the time, he needed a mother figure at this point. I asked him, “Why did you come to school high?” He responded, “Because my dad went back to jail!” I then asked, “Do you think this is the best decision?” He said, “No!” I then reminded him that if he continues to behave like this, he will end up just like his father. Next I told him that if I ever see him like this again, I will call the principal because this is unacceptable behavior. But I felt that I had to protect him and give him one last chance to make a good choice the next day. After our discussion, he never got high before school again. He did graduate.

Many times, we need to put on many hats as teachers. Our students come to school because they trust us and feel safe. They are looking for boundaries and guidance. If we cannot meet their emotional and psychological needs, they will have minimal academic growth. Let’s remember to continue to develop rapport with our students, one-on-one, so they can feel comfortable discussing risky things that go on outside of school hours.

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