Heart filled with pride...

This year is a bit different than last because I have 3 students graduating. My heart has been filled with immense pride the last few days-moments like this:

• A 5th year senior presenting on the Holocaust, telling teachers he knew nothing about it before this year, relating it to his life and Oakland, and reflecting on his journey through high school. All of us teachers had tears in our eyes at the end of his presentation.
• Another senior writing me a letter that filled my eyes with tears (see below for text).
• Seeing seniors "own" their work and take responsibility for it.

This is why I teach and this is why I specifically teach in Oakland...

I want to thank you for all that you done for me this year. You have taught me how to advocate for myself. Before I met you I didn’t know how to stand up for myself. You are an amazing person and I thank God for sending you to help me. I only have one class with you but I have learned so much just seeing you once a day for class.

I appreciate everything that you do for me and I know that you don’t have to. You are a very kind person with a beautiful heart. It made me feel good to know that you cared so much about me and what I have to say. I have never met a teacher like you ,ever in all of my nineteen years of life.

When I didn’t understand something you were there to help me. You made it clear for me and there I can only say thank you. When I felt like I couldn’t make it in my English class you were there to help me with her work. You spoke with her to make things simple for me. I was so happy that you did this for me I will never forget that it was you that helped me reach the point at where I am now. When I needed help with work outside of your class you spoke with some of my teachers and helped me with my work. I am very grateful that I came to (school name) and met you. Your this amazing person that doesn’t mind helping. Being around you I feel smart not slow like some people say that I am. I feel like I can do anything. You make learning fun and interesting and when I am around you I can be me the funny person that I am around my family. I am so happy that I got to meet a wonderful person like you that really cares about me and my goals. You never said I couldn’t but you were to say that I can do it. When I felt like giving up you were there to say that I can do it. When I had a question you were there to answer it. Yes we have had our ups and downs but you still never gave up on me and there fore I can only say thank you. When I first met you I knew that moment that you would be the right teacher for me that was going to help me become a better me. I thank you for all the help that you given me. You showed me that I can do things without help from others as well as use the help from others. With you I have a voice and I never felt that I had one before. I always thought I was to do what people expected of me to do, not beyond that. Having you as my teacher I knew that you wanted more from me because I could do more. I am proud that I got to learn from you. I have learned that I have a voice and all have to do is be clear and speak up. You taught me how to use my voice to get what I need and there I can only say thank you for helping me out. I know that that the skills you have taught me will come in hand because they are life long skills that I know I need. I appreciate all that you have done for me and what you still do for me now. At the beginning of the year my scheduler was mixed up it was you that helped me get in the right classes you mean so much to me. I know you didn’t have to it but you did and I want to say thank you. I would still be in the wrong classes and classes that I didn’t need if it wasn’t for you. I thank you for being there to talk with my teachers when I was failing behind. Thank you for not getting mad at me when I did stupid stuff. I appreciate you staying by my side to help me and make sure that I understand what I was doing so that I wouldn’t be confused and lost.