A Humbling Experience

I had a mom come in early this week. She had a one page form that needed to be filled out for her son to participate in a new program we're offering. After the "hellos" she said "Mrs. Joy, would you help me fill out this form?"

Seems like a casual encounter, but it has taken a long time to get to this point and I consider it a huge accomplishment. When I first started this job in October, the parents didn't care one bit about me. To them I was another teacher who would probably come and go, but I was offering free tutoring (among other things) to their kids. I learned at my first parent meeting in my first week on the job that I had a LOT of work to do.

Over the past 3 months I have worked to build relationships with these moms as well as their children. The first step was meeting their kids teachers, check one. Then I showed up to the school musical, check two. I've taken kids on field trips, check three. Perhaps the biggest step was the Christmas party and watching parents and kids open gifts they would have otherwise never had, big check four. After Christmas I was still here! Had another parent meeting last week and introduced a new program, "because I care about your kids and I think this will help us all."

Most parents stop in to say "How were they?" "Is she behaving" "Any problems, Mrs. Joy?" It has been my goal to build deeper relationships. I offer medical advice, "Um... take your kid to an eye doctor, she has pink eye." I take kids home when no one shows up to get them. I ask about lives, jobs, opportunities, etc. Sometimes I feel like I'm making no progress at all. Then this mom came in...

You see, she can't read. Until Tuesday, she had never admitted that before. The child's teacher at school didn't know, and here we are sending home notes that this mom can't read. I became skeptical awhile ago, but no one seemed to know for sure. On Tuesday she said "I'll fill out the part I know," and she filled in the name and address. Then there were a series of questions to mark yes or no... I read them to her. Then there was the annual household income question, just circle the category you fall into... she didn't know.

This was a very humbling experience for me. I'm still not sure how much progress I'm making, but at least with this one mom she feels comfortable enough to ask me to read to her. Then I remember exactly why I am here.