Gratitude

Sometimes a “thank you” isn’t enough.Sometimes teaching is a tough gig. Perhaps tougher because I teach at an inner city school. The most demoralizing days have been the ones where students have stolen something from me. After giving so much of myself to my students, a big theft feels like such an act of betrayal. Yesterday was one of those days.

A couple of years ago I received disbursement of a carry-over grant. The previous A.P. Biology teacher put in for it, and I got to reap the rewards. With part of that money, I purchased 15 Android tablets for my students to use.

(Four of them disappeared over summer, even though the cabinet was locked at the end of the school year. That’s a different story.)

They’ve been such a valuable resource. Often our computer labs are occupied by standardized tests. We have a laptop cart in our department, but they are dinosaurs (we’ve started getting newer ones). So the tablets are a life saver for researching, doing virtual labs, etc…

Monday one of them disappeared. I noticed during Period 2. However, I forgot to check them in before the end of period 1. So I didn’t know which period might have done it, and I didn’t want to falsely accuse anyone. I just figured it was gone.

Later in the day, a student approached me. The student first said they didn’t want to snitch. (Purposefully using plural pronouns to avoid giving anything away about the student.) They didn’t want to tell what they saw. I talked to the student for a few minutes, and they decided to tell me. They saw a certain student take the case off of the tablet and put it in their backpack. The student also heard the thief say they were going to take the tablet to the bathroom and leave it in a trashcan in case the tablet was being tracked. They were going to pick it up later.

I walked to the bathroom with the student, and yep! There it was. In the trashcan. No case.

I pulled it out. I thanked the student heartily for being so honest and brave in bringing this up. I told them they didn’t do anything wrong by reporting the theft. The person who stole stole from all of us. They removed a valuable resource from everyone’s use. I assured the student I wouldn’t use their name in association with reporting this.

I told the student thank you again, sent them back to class and told them I’d have a special treat for them next time I saw them. I was going to just get them a candy bar or something. But I decided to amp it up. I bought the person a nice composition notebook and some pens along with a Toblerone. I’m going to include a card too.

It takes a lot of bravery to do the right thing sometimes. Especially when you’ve been taught not to be a snitch. I’m proud of my student for coming forward about this. I’m glad I got my tablet back so all of my students can benefit from it. I feel like my words aren’t quite enough, so I hope this gift will convey my heartfelt gratitude a little more.

Late last week one of my students said it didn’t pay to do good for anyone else. You had to watch out for yourself. I disagreed with that student, but I don’t think I convinced them. This is one example of a time when someone did something good that benefits everyone.

I’m going to give this present to the tablet hero on the down-low. If any of the other students ask I can always say they helped me with a special project or something.