Notes From Public School - Day 135

A public school teacher teaches more than the 3 R’s, you know.

We also teach (well, truthfully, we try to teach) our community to be ‘more human.’

What does that phrase ‘more human’ mean, you might ask.

To me, it simply means ‘be kind.’

But that’s not so simple, is it?

Today, a student whispered to me, “Mr. Barton, Fallyn told me to SHUT UP.”

He probably deserved it because he has a history of saying things that needn’t be said.

But I know words are powerful, and I try to teach my students to use them creatively rather than destructively.

So I don’t allow people to say shut up in my classroom.

“No,” I answered, “You wouldn’t do that, would you Fallyn?”

I wish you knew her.

During the very first week of school I said, “Fallyn, I have a word I want to teach you. It’s my word to describe you. It’s the word ‘loquacious.’”

She looked at me with her big, earthy brown eyes.

There was a hint of sadness in them.

“No, no,” I explained, “Loquacious means you talk a lot. And, you know what? It’s a character trait of yours that I love in you. I’m glad you talk a lot because you have a lot to say. You, my student, are a loquacious genius. I’m glad you’re in my classroom.”

That moment set the tone for the whole school year.

She’s been being the best person and doing the best work she can each moment of each day.

Now, she looked at me with her big, earthy brown eyes again.

And, again, there was a hint of sadness in them.

“Fallyn,” I asked with my watery blue eyes (my blue eyes have become watery these past 14 years of teaching, like my grandpa’s eyes after he’d farmed the earth for many years), “You didn’t tell him to shut up, did you?”

“Yes,” she said.

“Fallyn, in this classroom, we NEVER tell anyone to shut up. We use words to build up instead of tear down. We are kind to each other.”

“I’m sorry,” she said to the student she’d yelled at.

A few minutes later, she was working with that same student in a break out room.

Do you know what that is?

It’s a series of puzzles students have to solve on their Chromebooks by reading information and following clues.

The puzzles can be quite hard.

Usuallly, students have to work together to solve them.

Fallyn broke out into a big smile.

“We did it, Mr. Barton!”

Then she looked at the student beside her. “You’re a genius child,” she told him.

He broke out into a big smile.

I did, to, because in that small moment

our classroom (and therefore the world) became a more human place.