Touched by the Students We Teach

Margaret, a volunteer serving in Poland, talks about how volunteers serving at Reymontówka are touched by the students they teach. 

We awoke in the middle of the night to the sound of thunder and hail stones hitting the roof. This type of weather made for another chilly day in Poland.
At breakfast Bob talked about his stay at Reymontówka. Molly shared an emotional story about working with the children at the Grala school. Both said they would miss these children very much. Bettina shared that she was touched when a student, in the after-school session that Bettina teaches, shared that her father had died when she was three. We all are touched in some way by the students that we teach.
At the Cisie school Meghan and I had a full classroom of 8 students, four of which came from the class that Kenita usually teaches. Kenita was not feeling well and decided to rest and get herself feeling better. Meghan and I had a fun morning as the children love to play Bingo. We noticed their vocabulary has grown in the past two weeks that we have been here. Lori had her students play a game called Pit Stop. Her students are in 4th and 5th grade. This game helps the students learn and pronounce new words. Betsy’s class of 8-9 year old students went well. Betsy plans very carefully for her lessons, and her students seem to enjoy their class with her.
Gary went to his usual school. He had three hours of teaching, and then found the 4th hour would be devoted to a farewell celebration for him. Two of the students even presented him with cake which he graciously brought to Reymontówka to share with the other volunteers.

Meghan had to leave quickly after obiad as she was off to teach a class at the Skórzec school. Many of us were off soon as well to the Kotuń Community Center. There my 3:00 PM class was with 7 students who are 11-12 years old. Betsy shares this group with me. She played Time Bingo with 2 girls. I sat a table with the other students who did Hidden Pictures followed by Sea Life Jingo. And of course we ended the class with the Cha-Cha-Slide dance.
At 4:00 I walked to the nearby Kotuń City Hall where I tutored young adults. I added a student that usually meets Kenita, as she was still back at Reymontówka resting. It all seemed to go well.
Again today Rob taught at the Kotuń Middle School. Last week he noticed a student sitting in the very back of the room seemed to have difficulty with English class. Rob was pleased to note that this week this same student is now sitting towards the front of the classroom and doing much better with English. We were indeed touched by the students.

Message of the day: For the past 33 years I have looked myself in the mirror every morning and asked myself, “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” And whenever the answer has “No” for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something. Attributed to Steve Jobs and shared by Bettina.