I tell my students certain things, make
certain requests. One is that it is
frustrating when students turn in work the day grades are due to be submitted
officially. Do they listen to me? Oh, I wish.
With all that has been going on at school with our project on top of our
normal activities, I admit that grading has not been at the top of my
list. So, I was working to get caught up
on grading the day grades were due. We
were in the computer lab when I hear this sweet voice say “Miss are you doing
grades?” My first thought…..Here we go. When I looked up, there is
Vanessa with this big smile, knowing that this is the question I dread the most
at this point in time. Now could I
refuse the request so politely and nicely asked with that smile. I needn’t answer. I can say that it cost a chocolate pretzel,
one of my favorite treats, especially with toffee.
Later the next week, we were working on The
Wall in the hot sun, well at least most of us to finish it up before the news
crew came. I looked to a table in the
courtyard and see my group of girls all visiting. I had some questions for them and what did I
see on the table but big slurpees! Now,
did they have an extra? Sadly I realized
they did not. Who was the first one to
jump up and offer to get me one? Yes, it
was Vanessa. Now this time it did cost
me a dollar, but well worth it. Slurpees
in the sunshine, nice.
Tweeting is a strange new experience. I still don’t totally understand how it
works, but I am making efforts with this new technology even though having 8
followers still makes me a little sad.
Vanessa asked me to tweet her a picture of what she wrote on the
wall. When I did, she tweeted a <<Merci.>>
with a little smiley face…why do those always make me happy? It is the little things, really it is. Now
this was special as it was, to hear back immediately that she got the photo and
made her happy. When she got to class and shared that it almost made her cry, well
that almost made me cry. This wall experience
keeps doing this.
This is a difficult time in the year when
seniors are graduating. They are super excited and while I am also excited for
them, it is a time of mixed feelings. I
don’t like knowing that they won’t be in my class next year. I get used to
being with them every day and life just isn’t the same when they move on to
life beyond high school. Letting
go….another lesson of the classroom: a challenging one.
Ma chère Vanessa,
mon cheerleader future à UNM. Merci pout ton sourire et ton enthousiasme. Tu es un rayon de soleil dans la classe et tu
vas me manquer beaucoup !
Knowing that sharing the little things really does make a difference....
