Lessons of past help with problems of present

Spring means something new to all of us. New buds, new life, new (and more) sunshine.

For me, this spring means a new task — this column.

When asked to write for Chalk Talk, I was chosen partly because over the years I’ve written my fair share of letters to the editor. I almost always write these letters when I am passionate about something, be it wolves, state parks, incredible characters and some not-so-good characters who rile the vocal part in me. I pondered about education and my passion therein. I am a teacher. I am a mom. The two roles often mix. I refer to my own two children, Katy and Danny, all the time in class. I use their past projects, writings and stories to engage my students, and often regale how much their saved jewels mean even more to me now after so many years.

Katy, 29, and Danny, 25, are both products of the Mat-Su Borough School District. What I remember most as a mom of school-age children is what I still want for them today: the love of learning and feeling loved along the way. It really doesn’t get much easier than that.

I sometimes have to remind myself that as a teacher this really is my greatest duty. Caring for a student, whether he or she is happy and engaged or withdrawn and uninvolved, should carry the same weight with all of us. I try to see my students moving on to the next level. I worry if I’ve done enough to prepare them. I almost always come back to a couple of students I might have missed hitting the mark in some way. Sometimes I really struggle with this. My patience wears thin. I get caught in the lack of time I seem to need to prepare for them, and things start to go downhill, mostly for me. Miraculously, it is then I remember what counts most. It counts most that I allow them to love learning and that I love them along the way.

My own children had teachers who struggled with this, too. When Katy and Danny each went through a difficult period of adolescent angst, it was a hard go for some of their teachers. Those who still kept that candle of love burning, seeding the desire for them to keep on learning and to give their all, are the teachers remembered most.

It is not easy.

For me, it means I have to take a step back, a deep breath and a real good look at one sometimes incredibly difficult child. This takes time and often a change in what I might’ve always been doing. Yet, even coming to it this late in the year, it amazes me how well it works. It worked immensely well for Katy and Danny during their trying, difficult times. I actually have my sights set on one child, who in his own way has finally (and thankfully) triggered in me what really counts most.

“A child may not remember everything he has learned, but he will never forget how he was treated.”

—Unknown

Kathleen Jones teaches at Sherrod Elementary School in Palmer.