Compassion

When I was a senior, in high school, I had one of the greatest teachers for AP English II. You know why he was so great? Because he understood the pressures of being a senior and how you have so many things to do and sometimes you homework comes second to things such as college applications, audition, interviews, etc. He also understood the need for students to have time for themselves after many 18-20 hour days because of school involvement and activities. He was respectful and compassionate to his students and in return, his students not only respected him but actually tried harder because we wanted to please him.

One such example of his compassion took place during my last semester of senior year. We had just read Hamlet (or were supposed to have finished it) and we had ten pages of reader's notes due in a few days. However, due to college prep and a play that I was in, I had not had time to finish the reading let alone be able to do the reader's notes. So, not hoping for a good response, I approached him two days before the notes were due and explained my situation. I was pleasantly surprised and taken back by his response. He thanked me for being honest with him and gave me an extra 5 days to finish the reader's notes. He said that he understood how stressful a busy schedule can be and that he was glad I was proactive enough to talk to him ahead of time. He wished me luck with my activities and college stuff and that extra week got me an A on my reader's notes. His compassion not only relieved my stress and allowed me to succeed, but it also encouraged me to try even harder in his class because I respected him as my educator that much more.