The Exasperated Teacher Blog UK

In my first months of teaching, I taught a certain young gentleman that has stayed in my memory (in my heart) ever since I first met him. When I took over the responsibilities of being the class teacher, I was promptly informed that he would be ‘The One’.

The one child, that would interrupt my lessons the most.

The one child, that would cause the most problems at playtimes.

The one child, who would have the most meltdowns for inexplainable reasons.

The one child, who would need regular home-school contact because of his behaviour.

The one child, who would ultimately end up in detention every week because of his behaviour.

The one child, who would be THE most difficult child I’d have to deal with in the class.

Yes he was some of those things, but not all of them. Some things his previous teacher forgot to tell me was that…

He was the one, with the most creative imagination in the class.

The one, who was used to being the centre of attention at home, which is why he struggled to wait for his turn in school.

The one, who was full of random knowledge and interesting facts, because he had an endless thirst for knowledge.

The one, who won the class talent show (voted for by the children) because he made them physically roll around on the floor laughing.

The one, who needed help to learn how to make mistakes and have a growth mindset.

The one, who shared news of his weekends and holidays as soon as he possibly could.

The one, who was actually very much loved by his peers, despite what other teachers thought.

The one, who (with a lot of positive praise) could conquer his fear of making mistakes and calmly overcome challenges in his learning.

Ultimately…

He is the one, who taught me to have patience with every individual child.

The one, who pushed the boundaries in the first few weeks but settled quickly into the routine (like most children do).

The one, who showed me that I shouldn’t listen to other teachers’ opinions of a child and give them a fresh start when they enter my class.

The one, who opened my heart to the other (future) ones.

The one, who reminded me to understand the child, their background and situation first before making a judgement.

The one, who showed me what a teacher’s love feels like from the start of my career.

The one, who paved the pathway for all the other ones that I taught alongside him and after him.

The ones, who need the most love in school because they probably don’t get it at home.

The ones, who need the most patience and dedication because they haven’t been shown how to deal with certain social situations.

The ones, who just need a teacher to take the time to understand them.

The ones, who just need someone to be on their side for once.

The ones who need more positive praise to help them learn how to believe in themselves and be proud of themselves for once.

The ones, who haven’t yet learned how to love themselves but with a teacher’s love can do so much more than they ever thought they could achieve.

And,

The ones, who stay in a teacher’s heart for the rest of their life.