It's been a while since I wrote. In the meantime, quite the drama has occurred that half-way prevented me from writing because I could sense the story was changing constantly. I didn't want to misrepresent, though I fear the narrative will end up being a bit distorted anyway.
I came to our third student teaching seminar with an embarrassing, but genuine confession: "I have a student that I don't like." It was hard to say this out loud, and yet, there were simply no other words for it. The issue I was wishing to express, however, had nothing to do with the student, but rather with my own attitude that I knew was already affecting my general behavior with her compared to with other students. I don't like disliking other people in general, and disliking a student does not exempt me from the responsibility to help her succeed and grow in her learning.
And that was exactly it: as I worked through my recollections of our interactions (she is a female, I'll call her Dora), and specifically my responses, I recognized the true challenge of the situation to be fulfilling my responsibilities by finding a way to work with her that erases - or, at least, limits - my negative attitude and supports her learning as much as possible. The task at hand lies entirely in my lap; all the better if she has no idea.
Oh, but Dora is not that easy a case. Is anyone, really? As a matter of fact, the longer I have struggled to connect with her, the more intrigued I have become with her thinking, her behavior, and - quite simply - her story. As one might expect, it runs much deeper than her words and actions might imply ...
I'm afraid I have to leave the cliff-hanger there, folks. To be brutally (and embarrassingly) honest, I was discussing with my host family what I should use for a pseudonym, and - as per usual - we got a little side-tracked. I promise not to keep you hanging too long this time!
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