A student I'll never forget.

I was once, a few years ago, sent to work in a notoriously tough school. I was going to be there for a few months, and to have my own classes in this time. 

 

 And it was the year 10 class that I will never forget. 

 They were a group of students who had been put together as they couldn't behave in other lessons. The head of department had decided to put them all into one group and take them himself, but now he was off sick, and I was going to take them on myself.

 Now, these were not in any way easy going, but disengaged students. They could be angry, violent and needlessly argumentative, but little by little they began to thaw towards me.  

 My first lesson was a complete disaster, and ended with them all walking out of the lesson with 5 minutes remaining. However, with patience and time I managed to win them round.

 

I never shouted, or patronised them. I just stuck to my guns and handed out consistent sanctions when they were needed, which they frequently were.

 

 I could tell you horror stories about these students, but I loved that group. We had lessons where they worked, we had lessons where we did absolutely nothing as we battled with eachother, and we had lessons where we just talked about them, and what they liked .

 I was building their trust, and it was a long and drawn out process, but with some of these students I felt like I was really making a breakthrough. 

 One student in particular stood out. She was a tiny girl, named Charlie, with a fierce temper, who'd tormented teachers everywhere she went. 

 

 Charlie seemed to hate me at first, and tried her best to disrupt already difficult lessons. However, over time, she seemed to warm to me. After a month she started to contribute positively to lessons, and started to produce good work.

 Suddenly she was a different girl in my lessons, but unfortunately this was not reflected elsewhere in the school. 

However, I was seeing her mature and become a student I was really enjoying teaching.

 Sadly, the time came for me to leave the school, and I explained this to the class at the end of a lesson. They didn't seem overly bothered, such was their way, and they left without really saying a thing. At least they left on time, which showed a marked improvement from my first day with them.

 

 An hour or so later, whilst clearing the room after a year 7 lesson, Charlie walked into the room. 

 She handed me a folded piece of paper, and said "I wrote this for you sir" "oh, thanks, when?" I replied a little choked "In my last lesson, sir, I never work for Miss Brown, so thought I'd write this instead" was her grinning response. 

 It was a letter, which I thanked her heartily for, as being a supply teacher you tend to come and go without any thanks or fanfare. 

 It might seem like a tiny thing, a letter from a student, but to me it was incredibly touching and more than enough payment for being able to teach that "difficult" class. 

 Within the letter she thanked me for being patient with her, and not shouting at her when she made mistakes. 

 The letter made me cry, as it was the last thing I ever expected, and it was a moment where I could see that I'd made an impact on someone's life. It might have been a small contribution but I was proud to be a teacher that day.

 

 I went back to the school a year later, and asked a teacher about Charlie and said I'd been wondering how she was getting on. They shrugged indifferently and told me that she'd been permenantly  excluded.

 

 I've never been more gutted for a student, and was so disappointed that she couldn't fulfil the potential that she'd shown in my lessons.