Notes from Public School - Day 73

I love the underdog.

That’s an important part of who I am.

That’s why I teach in a Title I school.

Every morning, as I open my eyes to a new day, I think, “There’s a school full of underdogs at Berea Elementary who need you.”

They need my patience.

They need my ingenuity.

They need my love.

That’s why I swing my feet off of the side of the bed and head for the shower at 6:15 AM.

My underdogs need me.

Most of my students come from families who are at or near the poverty level.

Just this morning, one of my students walked up beside and whispered, “Mr. Barton, my stomach hurts. I’m hungry.”

So I gave her a slice of banana bread and an apple before I taught her how to summarize a story.

She’s an underdog.

Most of my students come from families who migrated here from Mexico, Central America and South America.

“I speak Spanish at home and English at school, Mr. Barton, so sometimes the stories we read get mixed up in my mind,” said one of my students one day.

He’s an underdog.

Sometimes, sometimes though, they show me a side of themselves that I don’t see when I assess them with 4th grade standards in Reading, Writing and Social Studies.

That’s who I try to be a living encyclopedia for them instead of just a teacher.

I’ll take 15 minutes here and there and give them a quirky assignment that has nothing to do with the standards (and yet everything to do with them) but lets their ingenuity shine through.

Today it was origami.

After they finished an on-line assessment for reading, I gave them origami paper and origami books and let them fold away.

Have you seen the documentary about origami called Between the Folds on Independent Lens on PBS?

You can find it here (https://www.pbs.org/independentlens/documentaries/between-the-folds/)

It gives you a snapshot of the intelligence you need to learn the ancient Japanese art of paper folding.

Look at the origami four of my students folded today.

Each one of the four is far away from mastering the skill of reading.

I’m working my you know what off this year to help them catch up.

They’re underdogs, indeed.

Book look at their intelligence.

Each moment of each day I look and listen for beauty in the plain, genius in the simple, wonder in the ordinary and courage in the human.

I see and hear it in these origami creations.

I see and hear it in the hands and hearts that folded them.

Wow.

Just wow.

All in a day in public school.