Notes from public school - day 65

I’ve written deeply and widely about the immigrant students in my Title I elementary school.

I’ve spoken broadly about how much they and their families mean to me.

I stand hand in hand and heart to heart beside them.

I call out for human rights and immigration reform for them in a time when they are scapegoated by political demagogues who use them as ways and means to advance their political agendas.

I love them.

There are many reasons why.

Here are two from today.

Just before lunch, I walked by my friend Ms. Wheeler’s classroom.

She was working with Dionicio, a student who was with me last year for the first few months of school.

He spent the last few days with me because his family didn’t send in the permission slips he needed to go on two field trips with his 5th grade classmates.

“I’m so happy you were back in my classroom, Dionicio,” I said as I patted him on the shoulder. “You’re so great.”

He’s walked a long and hard road in his 11 years.

You can see it in his deep, brown eyes and hear it in his soft, quiet voice - a timidity and sadness that shouldn’t be in the face and heart of one so young.

Ms. Wheeler stepped out for a moment.

She’s a wonderful teacher and person and friend.

“I’m about to cry,” she whispered to me.

“Can you believe it, when I finished working with Dionicio, he asked if he could clean my table for me. He’s so thoughtful and kind.”

Yes, I can believe it.

He comes from the farms and fields of Guatemala and he’s treasure among us.

At the end of the school day, I was standing in front of our after school program classroom, preparing myself to keep on teaching for the afternoon.

Mrs. Kapadia, our wonderful ESOL teacher, waved to me from down the hall. “Would you like to see something Patrick wrote for me in class today?” she asked.

Ah, Patrick.

The sun rises in his smile and his brown eyes hold the rich earth of the mountains of Peru from which he came.

He has been in the U.S. for less than two years.

You can see a picture his ‘I am grateful for...’ page below.

“First, I want you to notice he corrected the grammar of the page by scratching out the ‘is’ in the ‘Someone I’m thankful for’ sentence because he wrote, “My family.”

He’s such a brilliant kid.

“And, he told me how much it meant for him for his papí to give him an iPad because he worked so hard to save up enough money to buy it for him.”

He’s a treasure among us, too.

I’m thankful to spend my public school days with them.