I have parent meetings all week after school. It becomes a long day fast. I have 240 students, and have yet to learn all their names - but I have solid percentages to represent them. In our parent meetings, I have a translator that helps in the communication and our individual meetings are limited to two to five minutes. I start a timer when I remember too.
Today I ran out of time again, but I walked out on four parents in order to catch a bus home. I was afraid they'd leave without me . . . so I rushed out. On the way, little Batuhan called for me and came trotting over, chattering away in Turkish. The boy is very underdeveloped for his age - mentally, emotionally and physically he is like a first grader. All the students are doing speaking presentations now and I had pre-written a simple presentation for him to give so he wouldn't feel left out.
When I gave Batuhan the notecards he eagerly took them and sprinted down the hallway back to his classroom to put them in his book bag. He ran with his funny run, his legs a little bow-legged and his feet turned in. He jumped, slid across the floor on his butt, and popped up easily to continue running.
His mom was outside as well and called for me. She was across the courtyard and jogging over to me. I was already walking fast with little Batuhan skipping beside me, trying to catch my bus - but now I was torn seeing his overweight mother rushing over to me. His mother prattled on to me in Turkish - mother and son do the same and I'm not sure how much I'm understanding - but she thanked me, said Batuhan loves me, and wished me well for our baby.
Yes, I will finally be a parent too.
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