I met “Noah” three years ago while working in the Before and After School program that he and his sister started attending when he was in grade one. When I first met Noah, he was very playful, outgoing, and eager to learn. Noah was a natural leader, who made sure that all his classmates were included in the activities that he was participating in. Noah has always been in my pocket because despite what was going on at home, he was always kind, compassionate, and inclusive towards others.
Noah grew up with a single mother, who was battling cancer. In September of 2022, two years after I met Noah, his mother passed away. Noah was devastated after the loss of his mother, and he went from being an outgoing and playful child to being very reserved and quiet. Noah’s support system consisted of his grandmother, his sister, his teacher, and the workers at the Before and After school program that I work at. Each one of us tried our best to support Noah through this difficult time in his life, but he never wanted to let anyone in. I spent months trying to build a relationship with Noah because I wanted him to know that he did not have to go through this difficult time alone. In January of 2022, my coworker and I took the students outside to play in the snow forts that they created that day at recess. I noticed that Noah was sitting under a tree alone, with tears running down his face. I sat beside Noah in silence for thirty minutes as we watched the students playing in their snow forts, and then to my surprise, he opened up to me. Noah told me about the pain that he has been experiencing since the loss of his mother. Noah also told me that the reason that he falls asleep in class and at the After School program is because he is too sad to sleep at night. Noah started trusting me with this information and it became a regular pattern that when we took the students outside, he would come sit beside me and talk to me about his feelings.
Noah taught me that teachers have multiple roles in a student’s life and one of these roles is to be a part of the student’s support system. Noah told me that he did not want to talk about his feelings with his grandmother or his sister because he did not want to make them sad. Throughout the remainder of the school year, I had the opportunity of becoming an outlet for Noah. A few months after Noah started to talk about his feelings with both his teacher and I, we noticed that he started to become playful and outgoing again. Noah is in my pocket because he is strong, resilient, and compassionate. Noah is now with the older students in the Before and After School program, but he still comes up and talks to me every chance he gets.