What a difference a teacher makes
While I was in sixth grade, my homeroom teacher Mrs. Penney took me aside and asked me why I wasn’t doing my homework.
“What’s the use?” I said. “I’m just stupid and worthless.”
She invited me to lunch that following Saturday.
On the appointed day, she picked me up from home and took me to a nearby restaurant.
During our meal, she asked me about my early childhood. I told her about losing my father when I was five, my near-death experience in a Swiss hospital, and my difficulty in adjusting to the recent move from Europe to the USA.
During our meal, she listened and expressed empathy.
Then, she told me she believed in me. She said I was intelligent and worthy. I could have success in school if I applied myself, she added.
Her optimism and her belief in me, changed something in me. I managed to graduate that year.
What Mrs. Penney did went beyond memorization, calculation, and other traditional learning methods.
She interacted and engaged with me.
Psychology articles say that resilience is about the process of becoming, which I started to understand once I started to believe in myself and my capabilities.
When I believed that I was worthy and capable of overcoming challenges, I became resilient.
All it took was one teacher to reverse the trajectory.