The conversation we had today sparked some thoughts. As we talked about the moral responsibilities of a teacher, I reflected on the experience I had during my field placement.
One day, as my co-op and I were grading, my co-op handed me a student's draft of a memoir and said, "take a look at this." What I ended up reading, was a memoir of a girl's experience with bullying. I don't remember every detail at this point, but I do remember what was probably the biggest blow for her. As she was walking in the hallway one day, a male student behind her said something like, "No one likes you. There's no point of you being here." This is probably not the exact wording. However, I know that I whatever it was, surprised me in its brutality. I sighed as I handed back the memoir to my co-op. The girl that wrote this memoir was a sweet, friendly girl. I would have never thought that she would be a victim of bullying and that she would start questioning her existence. How sad.
My co-op seemed to brush it off at that moment-- not that she didn't recognize the weight of the matter. Looking back, I wished I would have asked how she planned to deal with this. Although, I have full confidence that my co-op dealt with it appropriately.
This is crazy Amy! I wish your co-op would have said more at the moment it happened. I mean, I'm wondering how often it happens for her not to have done something right away, or does she just take it day by day? That is awful. I don't every think I knew anyone that was bullied in school, or it never was obvious, but I am sure there were. I guess I never thought about it as often as we talk about it in our issues and most of our Ed classes.
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