Are you Optional?

By Jessica L. Kalvaitis
EDU 5240
July 9, 2019
There are so many reasons why
we’re not optional…

We are teachers, who above all, provide care

for children.
Children have basic and critical needs for
survival.
If we are not there, how can we provide that care?
My biggest role as a teacher will be simply being there for children because they need us more than anything else in this
World…
I have had countless experiences where
a child needed love, care, and support
to make it through an ordeal.
My first example was during my Curriculum 1 placement in a first grade
classroom…
I had gone outside early to watch
the children playing before picking
them up to go back inside.

And there I happened to be when I heard one

of those shrill cries, a cry that means “I need
you right now!”

Think of this moment… if no one was there…

I went over to where I heard the cry.
This child was “stuck” way up high
on some climbing bars.
 I immediately reassured the child
that I was there for her and that
she was ok. But, she was hysterical
and in that heightened arousal
mode where talking wasn’t going
to help with immediately calming
her down.
 I persisted with a calm voice and
talked her through where she
needed to put her hands and feet
in order to come down. I helped
her to see that this was something
she was capable of doing, that she
was ok, and that I was there for
support and guidance.
Once she got down from that
playground equipment
She gave me the most
genuine, heartfelt hug a
little girl could give.
And, every day there after she
would greet me with a solemn hug.
You see, this little girl seldom smiled. And even though her smile was
often missing, she still wanted to give me a hug. She knew I cared.
We are there to provide (and support)
children with their daily needs…We are NOT
optional.
Another example, also during my first
grade Curriculum 1 placement was with
a little boy.
I was working at the guided reading table with a small group of students.
One of them had to use the
bathroom and so I told him to
go ahead.

Literally seconds later he is by my side trying

everything in his power not to cry… And then
he loses it and is instantly hugging me and
bawling.
It took a moment to assess the situation,
to see what had happened…
He had gotten his finger closed in the bathroom door and it
was immediately bruising underneath his nail…
And I was there for him.
Wouldn’t you want someone there
for your child?

Someone who genuinely cares?

Teachers are providing this care for children all day and every day because
children matter to them. If children don’t have their basic needs met, they will
not be learning anything in your classroom. Our jobs go way beyond teaching
content to children.
My last example is from when I was a
Curriculum 2 student and I was helping out in
a fourth grade classroom.

The entire class was working individually on math problems while the teacher sat
at his desk checking their work as they were completing it.
One student had just been sent
back to her desk with one of
her problems circled.

The student had no idea what she had done

wrong with the problem, therefor she didn’t
know where to start with fixing it.
She was sobbing and all I could get out of her was that “One
little mistake ruins all of it.”
She was so upset that she first needed a little bit of support to calm herself back down. I made
sure that she wanted me there first because sometimes when you’re upset, it’s harder when
someone is trying to ask if you’re ok. She said “Please Stay” through her sobs. She cried for a
good 5 minutes while I talked her through taking big breaths. I even made a little joke with her
about how her tears were going to ruin that math problem before we could even fix it.

I knew that she was capable of solving The teacher had told her that it was “Just a little
mistake.” (And it was) But that little mistake was hard for
this math problem. her to handle.

 But she couldn’t solve it when she

was crying like that and didn’t
believe in herself.
 Once she settled down, I told her
to look at each step carefully,
starting from the beginning.
 Immediately she light up! She said,
“I accidentally put a minus instead
of a plus!!!!!”
What this student needed was a little
extra emotional support and
encouragement. It helped her solve the
problem on her own. She really light
right up like a ray of sunshine when she
saw her own little mistake.

We are not optional…

This Photo by Unknown Author is

licensed under CC BY-NC-ND
Because of this…
Every single one of us is
not an option.

How can a computer

provide ANY of this?
We humans are social
creatures.

A true sense of love

and belonging holds
the key to our
physical and mental
well-being.
I look forward to my future.

I know that I am not an option.

We know that we are not an option.

Let’s show the world that we are not optional
in all of the good that we will do by putting
children and their needs first, above all.
Thank you. 