I'm doing my best to remain ignorant to the concept that one of my students is pregnant. She's one of my favorites really, but I haven't spent that much time with her this year. She's smart, she doesn't need me to explain the material to her. And I haven't figured out my role as an adult figure in the lives of these students yet.
In a way I'm not surprised. And really, I don't know yet. But it's getting harder to ignore the weight gain. Harder to miss the signs of hiding herself in her jacket or under her hoodie.
I did a remarkable job of ignoring the teen sex in high school. I didn't know people who got pregnant in college. I feel safe saying that the majority of friends reading this blog aren't having sex. No pregnancy. No.
Can I start handing out condoms? Do word problems about STDs? Fertility rates? Family size? Something? I don't really know what the sex ed is here, but I want more.
2 comments:
What exactly you can do probably depends on school/ district policy. At least, what you can do with confidence that your administrators will back you up.
I had a few teachers in high school who let us know where they kept "their personal advil" so that we could take some if we needed it. There was a policy against giving students medication. It seems like something similar could be done with condoms. (Though, of course, why you'd need to be keeping so many condoms at school is a bit more obscure than why you'd want a nice big jar of advil.)
Probably better to find out from your administrators how they feel.
i hadn't read this post till now. wow..i didn't realize that you were having to face something like this. going to a christian hs (not saying it doesn't happen there, but less so at my school) made things different for me. it is hard to be the teacher and also the adult because you can't really be a parent (nor should you have to). your other friends will prob be more helpful with advice than me but i think just being supportive of her for everything will be a great help. i can't imagine how much she's going through.
i know your wonderful presence there is such a blessing to your students.
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