Seven Days To Go and a Small Miracle

Being a teacher means you have to be an optimist. There really isn’t any alternative. You have to believe in the kids, especially when they don’t believe in themselves. You must dig and root around for something realistically positive to say to even the most hopeless child. There are miracles just waiting to be discovered, and just when you begin to question yourself those miracles happen. The break-through comes, and it always takes your breath away. Those are the things that make teaching magical. I had one of those today. Lord, I dance in gratitude.

Lester has been an angry kid all year. Angry. Cynical. Mean. Sneaky. Yes, he has had a tough year. Yes, his parents are divorcing. Yes, he did admit, “I have an anger management problem.” But every once in a while he would let down his guard and I would see the vulnerable child. He was in there but really hidden behind the barbed wire. Today he broke out.

As an end of book project for Johnny Tremain I have my students write letters (to be mailed or not) rather than the dreaded book report. They have to write a summary, tell their favorite and least favorite parts and explain their answers. The last part is where they explain whether they think the book might affect someone’s life, or might affect their own lives. Lester’s words were not out of the ordinary, he hated the part where Rab died he wrote, but as I read through his rough draft Lester’s whole demeanor had changed.

His face was thoughtful. “You liked this book?” I asked.

He paused a long time, and looked off at something unseen, “I didn’t like it when Rab had to die.”

“No,” I agreed. He understood. Rab did have to die. I looked at Lester. “You get it, you know. You understand what the book is about.”

He nodded, still in that far away place. “Yea,” he inspected his hands, “I know.” The power of a book to change a life; wondrous.

Maybe Lester can give up his anger and cynicism for good. For today, he understood, and that was a miracle.