OK-I'm trying to decide if I have stalkerish tendencies or not... let me give you an example....
I have a fantasy football team this year. I've never done this before and am not up on football enough to even attempt to win- but I like the thrill of competition... so I joined in with some friends. Well... being the girl that I am, I decided to make my team full of players that I like vs. ones that are good. So... I have a former student who went on to play in the NFL. So, I thought I'd look him up to see if he's still playing and if I could add him to my fantasy team. Well... in doing my search for him online, I came across an article that mentioned he is now back in the area working. And today at lunch, I saw him. Its been 13 years since I had him in class though. (it was during my student teaching! Just to clarify! :) ) But it was him... and I know this for sure because we were at Panera and they call out names when you pick up your order! :)
So I sat through lunch wondering what to do... do I go say something to him, or is that totally creepy that some lady you had as a teacher 13 years ago just happened to be looking you up online yesterday and ironically here you are standing in line in front of her to pick up your food at Panera? I didn't. Not sure what would have happened if I had. But I didn't. Part of the problem is that I have this INSANE memory that stores all kinds of useless information! I try to step back and recognize that I have this insane memory and that is not typical for most people to remember such random stuff (ok- so I can tell you what kind of car he drove as a sophomore in high school, he was #87, I watched him during his college and NFL careers, but hadn't thought about him or had contact with him in years! ) But even stepping back and looking at it from the outside in, it seems a bit creepy that I know all this and remember all this!
Maybe all my teacher friends can validate this- but there are just some students that stick with you- make your job worthwhile because they like to learn, they are good kids, etc- and you spend 180 days with them- during formative times of their lives. So I like to think its the nature of the job. I think I would at least remember 95% of the names of students I ever had, even those I had at camps during the summer, just because of the extent of interaction you have with them when you're in education.
So I don't know if this is stalkerish or not? Or just a memory made for the record books? :) If nothing else... blogworthy for sure!
1 comment:
I think you are fine here. It is great to have such a great memory. Shows that you care about people. I hope if you run into him again you will feel comfortable to go up and talk with him. Nothing freaky about it. I tend to remember more details about people then others do sometimes myself. That was before the memory started to go.
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