Sunday, June 21, 2009

"My Kids"

Often times, when I am speaking to other people about my students, I say "my kids". The people I talk to often enough seem to understand that I am not referring to any biological children that they did not know about.

Yesterday we had some friends over and I was sharing some story from school that began with "My kids..." I don't talk to the person too often though because of crazy busy schedules. She stopped me at the first sentence of my story to ask "What kids?" I laughed and explained that I was talking about the kids at school.

I understand that they all have parents and that some of them have excellent parents. But I also feel that I am responsible for them for 30 contact hours a week and the responsibility does not end when the school bell rings. Did they get home safely? Will they have bright futures and have I given them more than enough high quality instruction to set them on their way? Will they be able to eat over the weekend? So while I am not their biological or adopted parent, I still feel great responsibility towards them, a great sense of pride in their accomplishments, and an overall loving feeling.

If you teach, what do you call the people who sit in front of you every day?Students, children, kids, learners?

2 comments:

  1. My students and patients always have been, and always will be "My Kids." :)

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  2. i say "my kids" too! :) they are always gonna be "my kids" and the people who talk to me a lot know what I mean when i say that! :) Especially since I don't have any kids of my own either!

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