Notes from Public School - Day 150

As is often the case on a Friday afternoon, I’m out of gas.

“Please tell me it’s Friday,” I asked a teacher friend of mine in the lunch line, “Because if you tell me it’s Tuesday, I’m gonna break down and cry.”

I’m out of gas.

But my heart is full.

And I’m smiling.

All because of the picture below.

 

It’s a picture of Daniel helping Rigo read a part in a readers theater called “Evan’s Earth Day Lesson.”

Both boys came to Greenville into my classroom and into my heart from Honduras.

Rigo just arrived.

Daniel has been here for a while.

Rigo speaks less than 100 words in English.

Daniel speaks a wonderful mix of Spanish and English.

It’s a moment within a million moments in a school year.

A tender moment.

Look at Daniel’s face.

See the commitment?

See the creativity?

See the compassion?

All the things I hope to teach my students.

All the things I try to nurture in myself.

I showed the picture to Daniel this afternoon.

“Look at you,” I smiled. “I’m so proud of you. Thank you for helping Rigo.”

“Oh,” Daniel smiled back at me, “That was me in kindergarten a few years ago. I had just come here from Honduras. Appolonia helped me because she could speak Spanish and English. I’m just paying forward the kindness.”

Paying forward the kindness.

It’s what we do.

It’s who we are.

All in a day in public school.