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Friday, January 9, 2009

One Small Act

I have been so blessed in my life. I have known a wonderful amount of people who are good to the core. So good, they make you want to be good yourself. I have seen kindness in strangers and friends alike. I love honoring these stories. And this week I get to share yet another experience with you. Next week, I would love to hear from you.

This is a story of real life angel who made all the difference in the life of my son. A teacher who continued to love my son well after he had left her classroom.

There was a teacher in second grade that knew what the children needed. For S, it was making him feel important with math. He was a whiz at it and she encouraged him to excel beyond the typical 2nd grade math skills. Everyday the class would do “brain warm-ups” with different math problems. Everyday S would try to “give her a headache” with fractions, powers and other difficult math equations. At night hubby would teach him a new one to try out on his teacher.

Oh she would make such a fuss! How could this little 2nd grader be so cruel as to give her such a math problem. Surely she would get a headache. S ate it up, solved the problem and strutted through the day on his math cloud.

He felt important.

These equations were written down each day on a piece of paper and kept at the front of the class until the next day’s equation replaced it.

At the close of the year, this teacher gave S the entire years worth of equations. That was almost 7 years ago. Every time we clean out S’s room, I ask if he still wants to keep it. Every time, he wants to hold on to it. He thumbs through the pages with a little smirk, remembering creating some of these equations for this teacher.

But the unusual thing about this teacher is what she did the following year. S sort of blended into his 3rd grade class and was really having a tough time emotionally. I happened to mention this to his 2nd grade teacher and she stepped up to the plate. She asked him to come in at a specific time EACH day to show her current class tough math equations. After only a few days, S was back to his old self. Excelling now in 3rd grade, smiling more and loving his special assignment.

This teacher didn’t have to do that. I wouldn’t have thought anything of it had she never helped S. But I think about it ALL the time because she did. She just stepped forward and said, “Hey, I think I can help.” Then she did.

This teacher earned a spot in my heart forever. She even came to S’s Eagle Court of Honor.

One person did something so small. But it changed my child. Improved him. Helped him.

Just one person.

2 comments:

Fiauna said...

That sure sounds like a great teacher, but I have to say that the teacher wouldn't have been able to help your son if you weren't such a great mom. It's obvious that you are very involved with your children's education and needs. I applaud you for taking the time to talk to the teacher when you saw that your child needed some help. Keep up the good work!

carrhop said...

This is so precious. My in-laws are both retired educators and I saw them carry this kind of heart into the classroom--and have been blessed to hear from some of their former students, talking about how the compassion and care of one teacher can have such an amazing impact! Thanks for sharing this!

Blessings!