Feeling Sad for a Student and Angry at the World!

Yesterday, a new student arrived in my classroom. At this time of the year - three days into the new school year, that's not a surprise. In fact, in my school district, students arriving all year long isn't a surprise, due to the transient populace of Lawrence. Last year, a colleague of mine had a new student arrive in May. What do you do with a student who has missed 7 out of 8 months of school? How about one of my students who went from Lawrence to New York City and back to Lawrence within a month. She discovered that in order to graduate she would have to take the Regents Exam in NY so she returned to Lawrence. 

But I digress. My new students is a quiet, sweet girl. She's one of my Special Ed students. I learned a little later in the day that she had just moved to Lawrence from Boston and didn't know anyone at school. Awww. I've been there. By the time I graduated high school, I had been in 6 different school in three different states. But then I learned one more sad thing about this lovely student. The reason she moved to Lawrence - her grandmother with whom she was living had passed away. But that's not the worst of it. Her grandmother died after a battle with cancer. Seriously?? WTF is wrong with this world! How could it be so cruel to this poor girl. Unfortunately, as I am the only teacher teaching First Year English, she has to be in my class. So this girl, who has just had her world rocked by the loss of her grandmother, who has to move to a new city, and live with a step-aunt, ends up faced with a teacher who will be a daily reminder of her loss! 

When I mentioned this concern to guidance, the counselor said that perhaps I will end up being someone with whom she'll feel a kinship and will feel comfortable because I can understand what she's going through. Which is fine and a great way to look at it, but I responded "what happens if my treatment doesn't work?" The last thing this student needs is to lose a teacher 6 months down the road. Of course, the counselor said to not think of it that way, but I need to deal with the realities of my disease. People will say that I'm being a pessimist but I'm really not. A pessimist would say what happens when...  I said "if". This concern is something that needs to be addressed - especially since I try very hard to bond with all my students and usually succeed! I do not want to hurt this child if my cancer treatment doesn't work. <sigh> Well, there's not much I can do about it. I just hope I don't end up giving this girl nightmares because she's in my class.