I invited teachers to share these beautiful stories that we often experience when we practice this profession. More than ever, we need to talk about these magnificent things that are happening in education. After those of last week, here are a few more…
“Thank you again and again” (by Christopher Pitchon)
There are sometimes these returns…
Mr. Pitchon teaches philosophy at CEGEP. In 2020, he received an email from a student who took one of his courses in 2016. She wrote: “I really liked this course! I had then developed a love for philosophy. Following this course, I registered to do a bachelor’s degree in philosophy at UdeM. I am now in my last session of my bachelor’s degree and I have applied for the master’s degree in philosophy for winter 2021.”
He replies that he remembers her, that he is happy to learn that she is pursuing studies in philosophy and congratulates her.
Just recently, new email. : “I am starting this week a doctorate in philosophy on the question of XX under the supervision of XX. Thank you again and again.”
Another comeback? Here is.
“And for 20 years, I kept this moment in memory” (by Martin Gélinas)
Mr. Gélinas teaches students with learning difficulties.
A former student wrote to him: “I had you as a teacher. At that time I was a teenager who didn’t really have any defense against being teased. One day, you caught some young people who were giving me a hard time and you summoned them to your class. I then decided to drop everything, I no longer wanted to go to school. You made me come too. You then encouraged me to trust myself and not give up. Your words had a profound impact on me and I understood that day that I must have a certain importance in your eyes since you had taken time for me… And for 20 years, I kept in memory this moment that you took the trouble to dedicate myself. And it will stay with me for many years to come! »
And it ends in a comic and a citizen struggle (by Jean-Félix Chénier)
Political science course at CEGEP. In her final work, student Lylou Sehili uses concepts seen in the course and applies them to the very concrete case of a vacant lot in the east of Montreal being destroyed by an industrial project for a transshipment platform. containers. Superb essay. With their agreement, it becomes a text to read in the course.
Inspired, the professor wrote (with Yoakim Bélanger) and published a comic book on this citizen struggle (Resist and flourish, Ecosociety, 2023). Lylou’s essay is included as a common thread.
“Since then, we have often crossed paths on the paths of the wasteland in question and we fight together in the same fight. My teachings were able to stimulate Lylou to write this striking essay and to make connections with several notions specific to political science. But this essay landed my course towards a concrete citizen struggle in which I joined as a citizen. Since then, I have become aware that teaching is an intergenerational relationship to which the teacher must be open in order to also learn from his students. »
“He writes to me almost every day” (by Josée Latendresse)
On February 23, 2022, the teacher receives a message from a former student who was in her kindergarten class… in 1993. Let’s call the student Marc. He doesn’t speak, has a shifty look. It is difficult to get in touch with him. He stays away, prefers solitude.
“I had several meetings with parents, strongly recommending that they have their child evaluated while creating a relationship of trust between them and me. I also called home several times to help them understand and accept him as he was. I noticed, over time, that I could communicate more with Marc in class through music and songs. I also recommended that parents do the same at home. The parents gradually changed their view of their son. They were more understanding and gentle with him. At the end of the year, Marc had not been evaluated, but he had made enormous progress, as had his parents with him. »
Thirty years later, Marc wrote to tell the teacher that every time she called home, his parents were more and more kind to him and that she was very important. “Marc has high-functioning autism. He works in the health field. He remembers his year in kindergarten in great detail, with dates to back it up. He writes to me almost every day now, telling me about past events, exact dates and years. An incredible talent… Marc touched me deeply at the time. And I still am today. I am happy to have been able to make a difference…”