During school for my undergrad and graduate program I have learned a lot about how to teach kids how to read, solve math problems, and be successful at school. However, I never learned how to help students deal with real life situations. These are things that I have to learn through experience. During my summer internship two students had committed suicide. One was successful and another was on life support. One had just graduated and the other was going to be a senior. Coming from an elementary background, this was something completely out of my zone of expertise. This situation had a huge impact not only on the students but the teachers, office staff, and administration. It made everyone wonder if they could have done something to stop it.
The knowledge I gained from this situation was how important it is to reach out to the students and faculty in a time of need. Through social media the school was able to give information for the funeral and counseling services that the school was providing. Some kids came in to just talk with the administration and get reassurance that someone is there thinking about them.
I was very impressed with what the school was able to do for both families. The families of the students who passed were given a school picture of the kids along with a card that was signed by staff and comments from social media were printed and given to the families for comfort. I learned that at times like these, our job as administrators is to be an ear to listen and a shoulder for kids to lean on. Not everything we need to know can be learned through textbooks. Some of it comes from being a compassionate person and acting from gut instinct. These lessons are ones that we will not forget and ones that can make the most impact on our students.
-Megan
Wow, that is tough to deal with, but sadly it is something that happens more than we want to admit. As sad as it is, it is also really encouraging to see how quickly schools can come together to support and help.
ReplyDelete