Another Mugshot

Today, I saw another mugshot of a frequent flyer to my office during my tenure as an elementary principal. As much as I want to say it was unexpected, I cannot. His face was the same as it was almost fifteen years ago, except bigger. It is so sad that I have had the intuition to know if the student will be in trouble in the future. So far, I have been right about the top five on my list.

How did I know? You could just see a pattern start to emerge. There was a little lost soul look in their eyes, almost blank as they looked at me, professing their innocence. Some were matter-of-fact about what they had done. Empathy was non-existent. If I made them apologize to someone, it was usually met with them standing there at the classroom door and stubbornly not uttering a word. One child even told me he was not sorry one time. Another told me he could not write. I said, I’ll help you! Usually, these lost souls came from a broken home, but not always. Those who destroyed classrooms were calling out for attention and help. Running away was another sign. I had one girl who always hid in the bathroom. She’s still in school as of now. One day in middle school, she hid in her favorite spot in the elementary school. I told the middle school I’d found her. I just knew that was where she was and where she felt “safe”. Many more minor idiosyncrasies, including the shoulder shrug, occurred, but these were the primary signs of students whose needs were not being met, as they displayed big, intense emotions.

I still care about my students even though I am retired. I want all of them to be successful, even though I know this is unrealistic. Social media is a plus for seeing the great accomplishments they are achieving.

Later…