SaVing a LiFe

How was everyone’s break? I gladly asked, the first day back at school after Christmas break? All the kids excitedly shouted and began rambling about what Santa brought them. Some explained about the latest video games they received as others rambled about their fun family vacations.


Not Tommy, Tommy was real quite in the back of the classroom with a disappointed look on his face. When the bell rang and all the kids stomped out of class, I held Tommy back and asked, hey! Tommy, what did Santa bring you? He replied, nothing Miss. Garcia, lowering his head. I asked him, well, why not? Were you a bad boy this year? He rapidly answered, well I got my first B in math class last report card, but even if I got all A’s, I am too over weight to be rewarded at home.

I opened my eyes in a surprised glare and asked, who said that Tommy? My dad did, he replied. Dad tells me that fat boys don’t get ahead in life, that our society only likes those who are physically fit and therefore, Santa did not stop by, cause he’d knew I’d probably eat all his cookies.
I did not know what to say. I stared at him speechless and wondered what kind of parent says such a comment to their child? I paused and said, Tommy, where is your mom? He replied, she passed away when I was born. I live with my father and our maid Maria.

I thought back and remembered when I had sent Tommy on timeout for pushing his class mate after only being asked, if he was going to eat both his cookies?
And then it all made sense to me, Tommy had psychological and emotional disturbance because of his weight and the anguish it caused him at home with his father. I suddenly felt hopeless and thought about Tommy and his pain all night when I arrived at home.

The next day, I brought a few video games and some trucks I had bought my nephew for his upcoming birthday and I wrapped them in Christmas paper and handed them to Tommy after class. I explained to him that Santa had dropped off some presents in my class room and that I had not noticed till today.

I wrote a note as if it was written by Santa, it read:

Dear, Tommy
You are a bright boy. I have been watching you through out the year and I have noticed all your frowns. Santa likes happy boys and your upside down smile has made me a bit sad. I dropped your presents off at Miss Garcia’s classroom because that is where most your smiles take place. Tommy, do you think I am over weight? I was only wondering, because I heard you say one time that society only likes those who are physically fit. Is that so? Because ALL the kids and families love me for who I am. So I don’t think that comment is quite accurate. Well, continue being a good boy, and remember, It’s about who you are that makes you wonderful not about what one person thinks is socially accepted. Merry Christmas.


Tommy’s face lid up with a huge smile, it broke my heart. He turned to me and said, Miss Garcia, Santa brought me presents! He said I should be accepted for who I am. I replied, yes Tommy, it is about who you are not about the so called “accepted” look. He looked at me and said, Miss tonight I was going to go home and fill my tub with water and fall asleep until I reached the bottom of the tub, so that I never had to think about acceptance again, but now I feel like I would be hurting more than just myself, I’d hurt Santa’s feelings too.

I took a deep breath and said Tommy, life is full of obstacles, we were put on earth to grow courage and overcome them. Taking your life is never the answer; it is actually the end of all wonderful things that you could have experienced. Tommy looked up at me and said, well I did not think that I would enjoy experiencing life not being accepted, but I realized that Santa is right. All the kids love him and he isn’t physically fit. I bent over and gave Tommy a hug and made him promise me that whenever he felt life gave him a thousand reasons to cry, to sit and think about a million reasons to smile, the most important one being that Santa and I cared and accepted him.

Later that afternoon I got Tommy’s dad on the phone and had him come meet with me. We spoke about all that occurred. Surprisingly, Tommy’s dad said, he did not know his child felt that way. He said that this was his way of encouraging Tommy to loose a little bit of weight so that he wouldn’t become obese. I explained to Tommy’s dad that kids are encouraged through positive reinforcement rather than insulting comments. I had him speak to the school counselor to help him learn how to go about different lessons with Tommy.

The following day, Tommy came to class with a smile on his face and said, Miss Garcia, My dad and I joined a father and son baseball league. He said this will help him and I stay and shape and we talked after practice and he told me that he loved me and that he apologized for any mean thing he ever told me. He accepts me for me!! Miss Garcia. I smiled, and said, Tommy, if you would have done what you said you were going to do, you would have never lived through this wonderful experience. Tommy’s eyes got watery and he said, Thank you Miss Garcia, I guess I don’t need a mom to feel the love of one.



Research shows that many children commit suicide to escape from a hopeless situation or a horrible state of mind. Only about 10% attempt suicide to get attention. Only 2% saw getting help as the chief reason for trying suicide. The other 88% are the children who truly wanted to die, who are more depressed, more angry, and were more perfectionist. Suicide comes to a child’s mind when he/she feels unwanted by more than 80% of the people they know or care about most, feel neglected by parents and or have no parent support and/or acceptance of what they like or how they act. Most suicides are known to be done with a gun, pills, and/or a rope for hanging. However, Tommy’s attempt was quite rare, his plan actually proves the many thoughts he put into setting this up. All it takes is one person to notice, care, and take action in order to save a child’s life. Kids need attention, love, and acceptance. If a parent does not take action, let’s hope there are many more Miss Garcia’s out there that will help make a difference in a child’s world and save their life.

CH.11 Teacher Effectiveness

Ch. 11 elaborated on teacher effectiveness. We are all aware that teachers play a huge role in childrens life, therefore a lot of what we learn from them stick by us for a very long time and even at times forever. As far as teachers reactions to different things is one of the subjects in which ch.11 focuses on. There are said to be four reactions in which teacher effect their students. They are remediation, praise, criticism and the most common one, acceptance. All these reactions are very helpful for the learning process if used correctly. Unfortunately, acceptance is the one most used and happens to be the one reaction that can affect a child the most. For example, accepting a students "wrong" answer to a question, with out pointing out that what was said was incorrect, confuses all students. This creates major conflict where the students are now having trouble distinguishing what exactly is the right or wrong answer. In order to eliminate these kind of issues, a teacher must use the correct reaction to a student's answer, comment, and/or discussion.

Ch.10 School Law and Ethics

In the past, school was quite simple compared to schools today. We are in different times and as the years go by things definately change. When I mentioned simple above, I was not refering to academics. I was refering to the school system itself. Being a teacher in the past gave the learning enviornment much more control. Today, teachers are even scared to do the normal, like break up a fight. The rules are based on so many issues, leaving hardly no control in the teachers hands. For example, a child falls and breaks his arm, in the past, a teacher would come to the rescue, pick up the child off the floor and call for help. Now, the teacher must not even come close to the child until parents or professional help comes to the scene. All because one mistake can lead to a lawsuit and the loss of your job. I know a lot of rules and regulations have been established only to better the system, but it has arrived at a point where so many things are prohibited that a teacher probably feels at the useless level, where they can only baby sit and instruct, hoping the kids want to listen. This can become extremeley frustruating, especially when nothing can be done about it but calling an administrator or pray for help. Ch.10 explained the importance on teachers reporting different types of abuse, whether it would be physically seen or emotionally noticed. Again, teachers are not allowed to have the right to interact with a child, They barely have no control over even asking a question or two, incase the the student might be offended in any way, shape, or form. Basically, not only is teaching underpaid but it is also at peaks point level of the most stressful career to overcome.

Ch.8 Philosophy of Education

Ch.8 was quite detailed and interesting...Ch.8 enlightened me on the five philosophies of education. Essentialism, paranielism, progressivism, social reconstructionism, and existentialism. Everyone has a different philosophy in which they agree education should be based on. I believe in a blend of both, Essentialism and Social reconstructionism. Why? well I believe education should strive to teach you knowledge and train the mind as well as prepare students for social issues, which is known as, Social reconstructionism. I am aware that education in schools focuses on academics, but imagine this world with individuals thats only have academic knowledge and no sense of knowledge on how to act with others or how to approach different social issues, anywhere from dealing with different upbringings or even people that live below the poverty level? This society will be caos. I believe education should focus on teaching knowledge ofcourse, however, never ignore daily social issues and how to deal with different situations.

CH.5 Student life in school and at home.

School is a huge part of a child's life. Children evidently spend most of their day at school, learning and interacting with other children. Though many children attend the same school, they do not live the same life, nor are they brought up the same way. This is where the difference between children at school takes place. A teacher's role, job, career, and goal is to teach the children, not only academics but many other things, like how to carry their day to day life and how to gain different set of responsibilities and relationships, as well as assist them in any personal or serious problems they may be facing, that become obvious at school. Unfortanatley, it is nearly impossible for a teacher to deal with each and every problem that arises in all their students, but being attentive to the obvious ones will only help and maybe even change a childs life. For example, Ch.5 elaborates on how poverty is a major issue today. If a teacher realizes that a child is not fully prepared with the correct materials for her classroom, before penalizing the student for not being prepared, she/he should get a bit of the inside on why this is a factor? if poverty is the cause, the teacher can help the child by providing his or her materials instead of causing the child humiliation or embarrassment in the classroom. This action not only helps the child feel cared for and not hopeless, but it teaches them a lesson, that giving is a wonderful deed after they encounter the good feeling they felt went they recieved something they were needy of. After all, Teachers are in charge of teaching. right?

Ch.4

Ch.4 explained more in depth on how choices and challenges make a huge difference in schools. As a child and til I was introduced to this chapter, I believed school was made to learn. But "learn" is such a broad word. Well, ofcourse school is for learning, but not only academically. Ch.4 explained how schools go through different choices and challenges in order to reconstruct society and transmit society's knowledge and values effectively. Like everything and everyone, schools have different goals. The number on goal I believe is to help the children today be successful adults tomorrow. The way a child is taught, treated, and respected today will eventually come into effect as that child becomes an adult. That is why it is so important how schools form their every day structure of organization. The enviornment in where a child is brought up and what he/she is taught on a daily bases influences how that child will behave and act. In order to better society for the future, change must begin now, it's like the saying "the decisions you make today, will affect you tomorrow" Ch.4 helps it's readers understand that schools have a great deal of the impact on a child's life not only academically but in their social behavior and relationships.

Ch.2

Ch.2 introduced some interesting material about different ways of learning. I never really put thought to how different people learn in different ways. Ch.2 enlighten me on how while some people learn better in quiet enviornments, others hold better concentration litsening to music. The lighting in a room may also have an effect on whether some one is at comforts level to study, concentrate, ext. This chapter is a good chapter to help teachers understand the different ways they can teach different children. I believe that after reading this chapter a teacher can become better at teaching different children, since she will eventually learn how to teach the material in different ways, so that every child may have a chance in soaking in the information being taught to him/her. Some students have different abilities than others, therefore teachers should learn how to better approach teching styles in order to help their students progress and accelerate their learning ability.