Happy Friday to all!!!

I almost cried at school again today. At least this time, they weren't tears of frustration...

I was sitting in a review meeting for one of my special ed kids. Unfortunately, Gerald is one of the students that failed this 6 weeks for not turning in the big semester project; he gets distracted easily, but he's a good kid overall. Unfortunately, I haven't seen a smile from Gerald in a while, and today was no different.

His mother had been telling me about how Gerald wants to be taken out of the SpEd program because he felt embarrassed for always being pulled out of class, whether it was for special testing or a review meeting.

Gerald finally comes in with his usual pensive seriousness and sits down. As usual, the team goes over his grades. Ms. C points out how he scored in the 70s for most of his semester exams, which is comparable to his peers. Most of his grades are fine, except for a 55 he got in science for the 2nd six week term.

"I know, I got off track," he explains. "I was easily influenced by my friends - you know, I just want to be cool and all that with my friends - and I wasn't really doing stuff, and then I saw that 50 - I haven't gotten a 50 since, like, middle school, so I decided I need be serious, that this is high school, so I started being serious, and I realized I needed to bring it up."

Attaboy.

Then the case manager proceeds to tell his mother that Gerald is only at a 6th grade reading level and writing at a 3rd grade level when tested one year ago. His mom looks worried. I decide to pipe up.

"Um, if I may put my two cents in, I just want to point out that a lot of students that are not in the SpEd program are actually at a similar level or even lower."

His mom looks slightly comforted. "I know, I always tell him he can do anything he can put his mind to."

"What do you think, Gerald?" the case manager prompts gently.

Gerald looks down at the ground. Finally he responds, "Now I know that. It's 'cause I was real down before. When I was living with my dad, I would review vocabulary with my stepbrothers, and when I wouldn't know the words, he would be all like, 'You're so stupid, you're older, you should know those words-'"

"Your brother would say that?"

"No, my dad. Like, 'You're always gonna be dumb.' And I would, like, get real down, and go into the bathroom and cry."

At that point, I was about to cry myself.

Gerald continued, "But then I started learning, you know, like my coaches said in football, you always gotta get better, that you're not gonna just stay at the same place - if you practice, you get better, and I'm starting to believe that a lot more now."

I am always amazed at these kids, and what they're actually thinking and where they're coming from. Even though they might act like complete idiots in class, they know better. Even though teaching is tiring, even though they often make me want to pull my hair out, it's babies like Gerald that keep me going.

In other news, it's Friday!! Have an enjoyable weekend!!