Blog # 7
    Campano resonates a common thread throughout his stories about his students. That is "What appears to be is not always as simple as what is observed or perceived." You sometimes have to get to know your individual students better in order to teach them or begin to have an idea about what is maybe going on in their heads. My inclusion teacher gave me some insight into just two of my students this past week. One student, a male of thirteen years always seems to be pleasant and smiles a lot whenever he is talked to or gives an answer. The teacher had asked him why he had a cast on his broken hand when he came in last week. He told her that he had punched a wall and broke the knuckles on his right hand. She then asked him why he had done it and he said, "I have anger issues". If you look at this boy and were given a survey about how he broke his hand, and one of the answers was "Skateboarding" ,"Basketball accident", "Skiing accident", "In Anger I punched a wall", the least likely would be the last answer. I never observed anger issues with him. Both the inclusion teacher and myself suggested to him to seek help with this issue, either a social worker, guidance counselor, or psychologist.
    Another child who is always quiet and does his work, but rarely interacts with other students story is that his father had died last year suddenly and his mother decided to take the two children out of Florida and to move to Rhode Island for a fresh start in life and to try to go on in their lives. I had incorrectly assumed that the ELL was just not confident in speaking English with the other students or was shy, not that he had a great tragedy like losing his father at such a young age of twelve.
   We as teachers who have our own baggage sometimes do not look close enough to our students to see what their baggage is and to try to lighten their heavy burdens so that they can learn. "Things are not what they appear to be". "It is what it is", is not always a true statement.