Part V - a chicken come home to roost

At the beginning of the school year, last month, as I was sitting at my work station in the library, a former student appeared right at my desk. He was positively beaming, was this young man. He was almost glowing so I asked right away what was the cause of such joy. Master S. said that he had just passed all Advanced Placement tests at his new high school and was very excited about the opportunities such Advanced Placement would offer to him. He mentioned also competing for a position on the Varsity soccer team and that that had also worked out to his benefit. He also said that for him one of the most amazing parts of his experience was that as he answered different questions for the Advanced Placement he would see Mr. W. teaching him the concept in math; he would see Ms. K. illustrating the idea in science; and he would see Ms. W. accessing resources. As each of us passed in his memory he knew that he had the response he needed for the questions! And he knew that he had reached a new level of awareness. The look on his face as he told the tale was affirmation enough.

The piece of the story I want to relay for every one of us who struggles to make sense of what we try to do on a daily basis is this: one student out of many is enough to validate what we do. Our voices are heard, we do tell the truth. And enough are listening. I have a tendency not to remember the positive. I can get easily lost in the struggles of the day - too much to do and too little time in which to get it done, and the list grows daily! Be of good cheer - one day, one student did realize and he returned to tell the tale, and that has made all the difference. We each contribute a part of this student's story.