Teachers Are Like a Mother

**Blog Entry #8**: I will never forget the day when I saw Mrs. Hogarty’s "sweet side” come out. Couple of weeks ago, I went to go pick up the kids from music class. The kids were lining up. Girls on one line, boys in another. All of a sudden, one of the kids tells me “Ms. Miranda, Rodney is crying!” I turned around to look for him and there he was, crying. My heart broke. I couldn’t see this autistic child cry! I asked him what had happened but he wouldn’t say a word to me. Finally, one of the students told me “I think he’s crying because he got in trouble by the music teacher.” I thought to myself “The music teacher? He is a very nice, patient man. I don’t know. Maybe he’s crying because it was too noisy as they played their recorder? (Some autistic students cannot deal with too much noise).” Long story short. We got back to the class and kept asking what really happened. Rodney got in trouble by the music teacher and was told to go sit or stand by the corner. I told Mrs. Hogarty and she got upset. “I’m going to find out what really happened because I will not allow anyone make any of my kids cry!” She pulled Rodney close to her, gave him a hug and sent him to get a drink of water. She talked to the music teacher and denied what he had done to Rodney.

It wasn’t a coincidence that more than one student said the same thing. Both Mrs. Hogarty and I believed the students more than the teacher.

Lessons Learned:
1. No matter how annoyed your students may get you, you will always love them and be a mother at heart (at least for me).
2. There will be times where you have to use discernment and wisdom to find out the truth.
3. Compassionate teachers are fighters at heart, always willing to fight for their students and wanting the best for them too.

I want to stand up for my students. Do you?