Week 5

A student from last winter term requested a letter of recommendation so I squeezed in some time to do this by getting up extra early one morning last week. I let her know that the letter was ready. Did she want to pick it up or should I mail it to her? She'd maybe pick it up after my p.m. class the next Tuesday. Great. But she didn't show and had let me know in an e-mail sent about the time I expected her to arrive. I e-mailed back. Would she like to pick it up at a different time or should I mail it? No reply for two days. Then she asked that I mail it to her, but she did not send an address. I e-mailed back asking for that information. No reply yet. I don't think she is taking this letter of recommendation as seriously as I am. What do you think? And never mind that I had to manipulate the language to show this student in the shining light of deserving.
Another student asked to stay after class ostensibly so we could go over her essays. What we really talked about is her life. She is 17 years old and has a five year old son. Yes. She became pregnant when one of the men living in her household forced himself on her. She barely knew what it meant to have a period. Yet this young woman is putting herself through college, raising her son, working as a translator and found a safe place for her younger sister to live. She is determined to rise above her circumstances and carve out a good life for her son and for herself. She is well on her way in spite of being robbed of a childhood.
I don't know whether or not I'll miss these personal encounters with students. Sometimes they just cause too much of an emotional response from me.