Notes from Public School - Day 74

This morning, one of my 4th graders said, “Mr. Barton, I’m not a good kid.”

I stopped in my tracks.

I looked him right in the eyes.

I smiled at him.

Sometimes, I like to think of myself as the St. Jude of my school.

Do you know St. Jude?

‘The patron saint of lost causes,’ he is known for his long suffering, patience, and merciful heart, for from time to time he is confused with Judas Iscariot.

Though I am certainly not a saint, I like to have students in my classroom who seem to be ‘lost causes.’

If I am nothing else, I am long suffering, patient and merciful so I like to see if those qualities can help me find the human face and human heart in the lost student, to see if they can help the lost cause find their cause.

“What do you mean, Jose?” I asked.

“You know,” he answered, “I’m a trouble maker. I cause chaos wherever I go.”

I smiled again.

“Ah, Jose,” I said, “You are one of the most beautiful, ingenious, wonderful, courageous people I know.”

He looked me right in the eyes.

He smiled at me.

He didn’t say one word.

He was very still and very quiet.

I could see that my words made it through his ears and into his heart.

Later in the morning, my students went to a Santa Shop our PTA runs to help students buy small gifts for their families.

Since I teach in a Title I school, I know most of my students come from families who work hard (very hard) to put food on their tables, roofs over their heads and clothes on their backs.

Jose is one of those students.

He knows the value of a dollar, because his family has to stretch dollars to make ends meet.

But he brought a few of those dollars to the Santa shop.

And when we returned to the classroom, walked up to my table and said, “Mr. Barton, I know you like to drink coffee so I bought a gift for you.”

He placed a coffee mug on my table.

He’d spent some of his money on me.

He put the few other gifts in his book bag so he could take them home.

“Jose,” I said as he was walking back to his table, “Do you see what I mean? Do you see what a good kid you are? YOU are a GIFT.”

And he is.

All in a day in public school.