Ok, this WILL turn into a discussion question, I promise! But here is one more piece that I wrote.
Ewing’s Sarcoma – Say, what does that mean?
Gray clouds drifted in the sky that day; leftover snow and ice crusted the ground, frost covered the grass. As all the other fourth graders exploded out of the building that November day, she stayed still. She looked up at the sky above, and simply asked God why? The anger, fear, pain and confusion consumed her. Tears welled in her eyes, bubbled over, and ran down her face. She took off her backpack and knelt. Taking out the scissors she grabbed a fist-full of hair and began to chop. Lock after lock of her golden brown hair fell to the frost covered ground. Searing pain shot through her, to her skull and in her heart, yet the sensation was almost soothing. She no longer needed her hair; she would no longer have her brunet features in the months to come. What does Ewing’s Sarcoma mean anyway? What does malignant mean to a ten year old? Nothing except… I don’t need my hair. She stands, lifts her backpack, and moves on, her worn sneakers scuffing the pavement. Explosive pain follows her, and many trials loom before her, but new found strength goes with her… with the loss of her hair. She must live.
So just a little background before my question. I originally wrote this piece when my cousin began her battle with cancer. Since then I have edited it some (writing can ALWAYS be improved–I suppose that could be a discussion question in itself). So my question to you all is, how do you best support a student and family going through a situation like this? How much outside class time do you devote to them? I have seen what my cousin’s classroom teachers have done and I have my own opinion, but I wanted to hear your thoughts and ideas. What type of things would you do to be an advocate for this student?
Thanks!
This is such a tough question. Honestly, I really struggle even approaching these questions because I’ve never experienced anything like this and it completely scares me. In addition to this, I think it’s a hard line to draw between being supportive and accommodating and treating the child like normal. In many situations I think the student going through this doesn’t necessarily want a lot of attention drawn to the situation. In fact I would venture to guess that with everything else in his or her day to day life likely surrounding this situation, school might be the only place he/she can get away and act like a normal kid. In that regard, I think it’s important to allow and enable this. However, I understand that accommodations and modifications need to be made in a situation that has such an impact on the students daily needs and understanding of life and the world. The teacher’s role is definitely to be supportive and make this clear to the student. Personally, I think I would make it my role as the teacher to make sure I was doing everything I could for this student. I would think the first step would be to meet with the students family in a comfortable setting and try to gain an understanding of the situation while also asking the family what role THEY would like you to have. In situations like this, I believe that the family’s and student’s needs come first. I believe that being teacher is a role of service and it is a responsibility of the teacher to be invested in the well-being of each and every child and the first step to this is understanding what they need from you and how you can best support them.
Overall, this is so tough! Thanks Kelly for involving something so personal in our discussions on education! I really appreciate having the opportunity to think about this situation! I hope to gain a greater understanding of how best to approach it through hearing about your experiences with your cousins’ teachers.