Memorable Students

I've been doing some of

And I really wanted to write about yesterday's - - - but I had a minor medical procedure in the morning and I spent the afternoon on the couch watching

 

 on Netflix with my eyes mostly shut.

So anyway, yesterday's prompt was "Who are your memorable students? Share a story."

I have two that I wanted to share about. The first was a girl from my very first 3rd grade class that I taught for only one semester. {Read more here.} Her name was Sofia. She was an ESL student. And sort of a "tough chick," even for 3rd grade. I basically remember two things about her - one, at the very end of the year, I tested her for a DRA score - and realized, she just couldn't read. And somehow, she'd fooled me for a whole semester. It made me feel pretty stupid, and I was sad, and full of regret. But I'm also glad I realized pretty early that some of those that need the most help can fool you pretty good. 

The other thing I remember about her is ... well, background first - I got a Burmese student my first semester and she didn't speak any English. And I'm sure you are realizing, I don't speak any Burmese. Well, I think Sofia would have been a good mentor for this girl - show her around, help her learn some English. But I just really missed the boat on that one. 

So, so sorry Sofia, I was just learning. 

And two years ago, Freddy. I love Freddy. He was loud - almost all the time. I don't think he had a quiet button. One time, he'd been a little silly in class, and I went to talk to his dad, and his dad said he couldn't understand English, so I tried to have Freddy tell him, and his dad said he couldn't understand Freddy. Oh whatever!

But, Freddy was willing to ask me questions. And they were things I never thought of. Like I have my phonics lessons on Powerpoints. And I'd have these words that followed the patterns, and never thought much about it. Until one day, Freddy asked, what's that mean? about one of the words. Hmmm, I never thought that some of my ESL kids wouldn't have that vocabulary. So because of Freddy, I look at everything and think, do I need to try to add a picture? What's here that some of my kids might not be familiar with? And I also try to use video clips a lot, to give a little background. It is soooo true that a picture is worth a thousand words!

So thanks Freddy for helping me be a better teacher. 

And that's a little bit about two of mine.