As a relatively new college professor, I have had a lot of firsts this year. Last semester I had a student email when he was contemplating suicide and a little later in the year I was nominated for an exceptional teaching recognition. This semester, I have had several students enter my classes that are registered with disabled student services. While this is not unusual (I had some last semester also), it has been a bit different. I do not want to go into details to protect the innocent, but I have found that college professors need more training on how to deal with the various disabilities — some of which, as they are in my case, can be extreme in nature.
Now, I don’t want this to come across as complaining, because in no way am I, but it does go to show that as an educator, sometimes we are to be stretched to our limits and in certain times, beyond these limits. This has happened this semester as well, but not for any of the aforementioned reasons. Last semester I had the great fortune of teaching many wonderful students (somewhere around 180) and enjoyed it greatly. I enjoyed it so much, that I wanted to teach an advanced class and have several of the students return. I do not know that this is normal, but for me, it was wonderful as I was able to teach several of my “favorite” students. I was able to handpick students due to the timing of when the class was added, again not normal.
Let’s fast forward to this semester. I have had a great time with the students in the class, and in several instances seeing them blossom into great learners. It has been a great class. Unfortunately, a couple of weeks ago, one of my students was killed in a terrible accident. She was nineteen and full of life — finally choosing a career, making some important decisions and just an all-around AWESOME young lady. Her birthday was this past Monday. Needless to say, this class was a close-knit group and has taken this extremely hard. I have taken it hard. We each have tried to deal with it, and at times, it just hasn’t seemed possible.
So, now we get to the relevance of how this might somehow deal with technology. A group on facebook was created by a friend in the student’s memory, email has been used to spread the news after the accident, the local news had a comment section enabled directly after the accident and many students were notified by text. This did make my job so much easier in that I did not have to be the first one to notify the students in my class.
In addition to everything that has went on, my class has decided to unite and do something to help the family. You see, the family does not have the money to pay for the funeral or marker for the grave. At the present time the details have not been completed, but it will be a fundraiser of some kind.
There is not a lot more I can say about this subject, but I do think I have learned so much from this experience. I would not wish this experience on anyone, but I can say I am a better educator and person for having known Britt.
Britt, you are gone, but not forgotten.
