Success

Last week, I asked students to respond to the following prompt:
"Write a paragraph explaining your definition of success and describe what success looks like in your future."

Today, I'm reading one student's response.

As follows...

"Success is difficult to say for me, because I am not even sure I know what the real meaning is. Ever since I was a kid I have never been great at anything. My parents are nothing close to what someone might call a success. Their is [sic] some people in my family who have become something. Though, they look at me as if I am dirt, almost as if I am nothing. Really, I don't think I can become anything that would be called successfull [sic]. It's not like I don't work for it, because I work my tail off everyday [sic] just for a little pride. Success means to me a good life.Where I have a family, I can feel happy going home to. A job I can handle working bring home enough money to spend on myself. Be able to get myself something, an occasional gift and a present for my kids. My version of success isn't greatness, it is hapiness [sic]. In truth, I don't think I am gunna get that, because I seem to always have bad luck in life. That doesn't mean I am not happy with my life. It just means I think my life story is just a plague of bad luck."

This breaks my heart. This student always has a positive attitude, and I would never have known he was feeling this way if it weren't for this writing assignment.

As a teacher, it's sometimes easy to forget that students sometimes have struggles that far exceed those of a typical teenager.