“We are sorry. We are here for you.”

“We are here for you Mr. Neibauer. S for Superman. Be like him. You got this!”

—Class

Today, I had to take a distressing personal phone call in the middle of class. I stepped outside. My students couldn’t hear me, but could see me anxiously pacing on the phone.

When I came back into the room, I was greeted by 20 students gathered at the door, arms outstretched for a hug.

20 hugs from my most challenging group. In fact, my MOST challenging student organized everything. We ended the day sharing personal stories. We cried a bit. The bell rang. I dismissed everyone and saw what they wrote on the board.

“We are sorry. We are here for you.”

“We are here for you Mr. Neibauer. S for Superman. Be like him. You got this!”

—Class

If you read my Substack, you know I’ve struggled a lot with this group of students. Today, they showed me what I’ve always known, but sometimes forget: they are kind and compassionate and loving kids. They may struggle in lots of things, but maybe I’ve taught them something after all.

The importance of being fully human.