You’ll Know You Love Your Students When……

When I entered Cypress College and began playing basketball, three of my molars were more than half decayed. My step father didn’t want to spend the money for the dentist and would rather have my teeth fall out than fix them. One day in practice, I was in such pain I was holding my jaw. My coach, Don Johnson, pulled me aside and asked me what the problem was. I told him it was nothing. He didn’t take that for an answer and asked me to open my mouth. That’s when he saw my decaying teeth. He called his dentist and arranged for me to have the work done. It was over $15,000 worth of dental work and it cost me nothing. Don Johnson was a teacher that loved his students.

How do you know if you really love your students? Here’s a partial checklist:

1. You’ll know you love your students when, in the morning, you notice if their clothes are clean or not and if they are groomed.

2. You’ll know you love your students when you notice a limp and your heart sinks with empathy.

3. You’ll know you love your students when you worry who they hang around with during lunch and after school.

4. You’ll know you love your students when you worry if they don’t eat lunch or haven’t had breakfast.

5. You’ll know you love your students when you need to know why they missed so many days of school.

6. You’ll know you love your students when you take everything they say dead serious.

7. You’ll know you love your students when you have high expectations for them.

8. You’ll know you love your students when you notice a parent belittling his child and you make it a point to build that child’s self-esteem back up the next day.

9. You’ll know you love your students when you won’t give up until they come clean about something.  

10. You’ll know you love your students when you rejoice more than they do, when they do well.

11. You’ll know you love your students when you have the courage to stand up for them, to anyone.

12. You’ll know you love your students when you refrain from doing for them, anything they can and should do for themselves.

13. You’ll know you love your students when you can see right through an attitude, and straight to the heart.

14. You’ll know you love your students when you resist becoming one of them and, instead, maintain your status differentiation. 

15. You’ll know you love your students when you become obsessed with knowing why learning is not taking place.

16. You’ll know you love your students when you make the effort to learn what kind of home they’re going back to, after school.

17. You’ll know you love your students when you will never stop trying to convince parents how smart their children are.

In short, you’ll know you love your students when you think of them as your own.

Swen Nater
(With help from Dr. Wendy Ghiora)