Triumph in Room 18

Today something happened that I wasn't sure would ever happen.

One of my students read a book.

This particular student is an ESL student that has had many difficulties adjusting to school. We all thought that something more than a language barrier was working against him but it was near impossible for us to figure out what delay or disability he has. And maybe he does have a delay or disability. But regardless of the odds stacked against him...he is LEARNING.

It's assessment time in the County of Craven so we are all doing everything we can to make sure we get all of our t's crossed and i's dotted before the reporting dates. This time of the school year is stressful and exciting- there is a lot to get done when most of your assessments must be completed one on one with a six year old...but it is exciting to take a look at the things they can do now that they couldn't do the last time around.

I pulled this child to read to me so I could take a running record and calculate his accuracy for the book he as reading. The last time I asked him to read to me he stared at me as if tentacles had just sprung from my ears. Today I told him we were going to read and he said..."OK. Let's read this one. " as he chose one of the leveled readers spread before him on the tiny student desk we were sharing.

That by itself was HUGE for me because he was no longer AFRAID of books.

Then, after I modeled two pages of the patterned text for him, as per county instructions, he was able to read the rest of the book to me with only two errors for a whopping 87.5% proficiency.

That's a long way from not speaking....or making eye contact...or participating in any way.

Now, I have lots of people helping me every day with this student...so I don't write ANY of this to brag. Several specialists at school deserve the credit for this one. I write this because it proved to me, once again, that you cannot label a child. With anything. Ever.

Also, expectations are tricky.

As a student and intern my professors talked a lot about expectations. They taught us how to craft our expectations to set our children up for success and push them as far as they can go.

Well, after meeting this extraordinary child I realize that expectations are impossible. You simply CANNOT put these children in a box when they were meant to reach for the stars.

Here's my new motto:

Screw expectations. Start from the bottom and push as hard as you can until they, you...or both cry uncle...or maybe even just cry in general.

Then...take a break...laugh. Give hugs. Play a game. Let them see the real person that lurks underneath the scaly exterior of a teacher.

And then, after all that...hit em with it again.