they didnt teach me this...

compassion.
passion.
love.
humanity.
authenticity.

the textbooks didnt teach me none of this.
it dont matter how much you read or how many professors you talk with or hear from.
workshops, lectures, professional developments.

they dont teach you how to handle a situation when a student's father has been shot and killed in a drive-by and the entire community is in mourning. they dont teach you how to love your students who knew him. they dont teach you how to carry your students whose memories of their moms being stabbed to death on their front porch comes flooding back. they dont teach you how to carry on a lesson about reading or writing in spite. they dont teach you how to empower your children not in spite of but rather because of.

they dont teach you how sometimes you have to get real, to not just be their teacher, but another human, and be willing to be vulnerable and cry with them and listen, really listen, and grow from it.

no they dont teach you.
the kids do.
and that dont cost nothing.