When I showed it to my lead-teacher, she suggested I "soften up" my remarks and perhaps write something a bit more encouraging for him. Suddenly, as she said this and as I took the paper back I felt awful about having judged the student like that. Maybe this student did actually make an effort of writing these sentences but he just simply did not understand the exact definitions of the vocabulary words. Haven't I made the same mistakes when I was in high school trying to make these sentences with vocabulary words? If I didn't understand the words completely, it never occur to me to just ask. For some reason, I thought I would somehow figure it out on my own without having to bother the teacher. I'm not saying this student has the same situation, but he could have any other complication.
And sure enough, after class, my lead teacher spoke with the advisor of the CUNY START program and found out that 3 students from our afternoon class have learning disabilities and the student whose paper I "harshly" marked the paper of, is one of them. I'm not exactly sure just yet what kind of disability he does have or if that was the cause of his poor performance of the assignment. Anyway, it really made me ashamed of myself to have judged so quickly. I mean me! The person who always hated when teachers did so with me or with other students!
I guess in the end of the day, even teachers make mistakes sometimes. No matter how conscious they may be of their practice.
Mahla, though this story broke my heart, I do appreciate your being understanding and also admitting that we, teachers are humans and regardless of how knowledgable we are, we do make mistakes. We have to learn not just from other people's mistakes but also our mistakes. Some mistakes sometimes cost a lot but I believe there's a way to repay. I'd suggest you talk to your student in person. You found out about his learning disability but perhaps there's more you'll find worthy if you get to know him more. I myself made mistakes in my teaching experience too, some I came to know and some maybe I missed and will never get the chance to remedy. When I look back, I always think my best teachers were those who made me motivated and consequently I went for learning. Maybe if we, teachers, set our goal on motivation, students find ways to both appreciate and seek knowledge.
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