OD on life changing events.

So, I am ultimately going to have 2 different posts today, unless I think of something else to write about. Because so many things happened to me today.. but I will start out with the first one.!

We were in my intro to teaching class and we were talking about kids, and how they can be depressed, and I shared with my class a story of my internship last year. I will share it with you too.

So there was this kid, and I am not going to give you his name.. but lets just call him K. There was a sub, and if any of you know how my internship went last year, when there was a substitute I like did all the teaching, and basically I was the kids teacher, because they would only listen to me and not the Sub. So I am taking the kids out to recess. Wait, pause.. so K. usually wears a sweat band thing around his wrist.. every day. Hilltop is a title one school, so there are a lot of kids with bad families that go there, although that sounds very harsh, it is true. K's. family was one of those families that was really bad. His Mom would come and go almost weekly, and his Dad was often locked up in the jail. So poor K. had to go from living at his home, when his Dad was out of jail, and then living with his Grand mom, when his Dad was in jail, and sometimes but only sometimes was he lucky enough to stay home because his Mom was actually there and not running the streets somewhere. And yes, just being the intern I learned all of this.. it is important to know where your kids are coming from, because in most cases it will explain the certain behaviors of the child. ANYWHOOO we were outside at recess, and K. today has is Sweat band thing on. He comes up to me.. moves away his sweat band thing, and shows me his wrist.. and across his wrist there are deep open wounds. K. told me that he had fell onto a toy at his house, so I asked him when he wanted to show me and he told me (I remember this story like it was yesterday) "I wanted you to see how bad I was hurting." So, that was the first thing that kind of tipped me off, I got down on my knees and looked at him (because kids often only like talking to you if you are at their eye level.. it makes you less intimidating) I asked him if he made the toy do it to his wrist or if he fell on it. K. Told me that his heart was hurting, so he made the toy do it. So, I immediately had someone watch the kids outside for me and took K. down to the guidance office. Now, if you could just picture what was going through my head.. this kinder gardener just came up to me and told me that he was cutting himself. 5 YEARS OLD! And, that wasn't the only thing I was freaking out about.. I am only the intern.. why on earth am I doing this.. why do I have to do this.. why do I have to know this. I was worried about him.. worried if he would ever do it again.. if he could kill himself. He is the sweetest boy, and I just couldn't let me not telling someone end his life.. here he was telling me the story of the toy, and tearing up.. I am trying to keep my cool and not cry in front of him, because I didn't want him to think that I was mad at him.. because I wasn't I was just concerned. So, like I said I took him to guidance, and she asked me what was going on, then I had learned that K. was sent to see a therapist and that he is now on medication.
It's honestly a life changing moment in my life that I will never forget. I was telling this story to my class, and my professor told me that I saved his life.. and that I shouldn't have had to go through the situation, but I did, and I made the best of it.. that made me feel really good. To see that I had possibly saved a kids life. I still pray for him, and I still worry about him. But I know that he is in Gods hands.
About a week ago, while I was doing my internship this year, I was going to the library to interview the librarian in the school, and I saw K. there. Unknowing to me, he transferred schools. And there he was.. still in front of me.. without his sweat bands. I saw him and I almost started crying.. he ran up to me yelling "miss mandyyyy!" and hugged me "I missed you so much" It felt so good to just know that he is still alive.

I never knew that teaching would require this much.. I thought that teaching was just about giving kids information.. not about saving their lives. But as I get further and further into my education on teaching.. I am learning that its so much more then that. Teaching, is almost like every career out there. You need to have organization, you need to be personal, sometimes you have to be that kids parent, you have to be strength for the kids, you have to be a playmate, you have to be a Secretary, a planner &the list goes on and on.. its a tough profession.. but with touching stories like the one about K. how could you not want to be a teacher. It's scary, and at times lives depend on you.. but the impact you make on a students life.. is more rewarding then any kind of salary or anything else like that.
I cannot wait to become a teacher, it is literally my dream job.