Tales Out Of School

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For a short week, it was a week full of flurry and melt. There are so many reasons why my job is the BEST job on the planet, but none tops the people with whom I work. The 5 to 12 year-old set is as compelling and endearing as any age group out there.

TALE ONE

One of the ways I make myself useful is to greet and welcome new students and often assist our Instructional Data Assistant in administering their mathematics placement test. A. enrolled on Tuesday from Bangladesh. She had been screened by the school district's "International Office" and was passed on to us as being sufficiently English proficient to enroll directly into school. The principal assured us that he and A. had had a "conversation," and the assistant principal talked about how well A. understood her during a tour of the school.

Within seconds it was painful apparent that A. would smile and nod at me no matter what I said, as long as my tone was friendly, and I was smiling at her. As someone who has lived in both China and Central America, I often found this technique very helpful in maintaining a general sense of order among those around me, while remaining completely oblivious to what was actually "happening" around me.

A visit with our own ESOL teacher quickly pegged A. as without a bare minimal of English Language skills. Her dynamite smile remains intact and active.

TALE TWO

Today, we received two more students from overseas. This time they were brothers from the Cameroon. I helped with I.'s placement test. In no time it was apparent that he had learned (and learned well with mechanical strategies) certain basic skills/concepts (computation, fractions) while others fundamental to our curriculum were complete strangers to him (geometry, number theory). At one point he looked at the compass and protractor and began to cry.

TALE THREE

Visiting a first grade teacher in the afternoon, I was asked to check up on a new student in her class, M., who was in the nurse's office because she said she'd fallen and hit her head while visiting the bathroom. The teacher indicated that she was concerned about M.'s odd behavior and lack of most basic understanding of school and the expectations of being a first grader -- both separate from this particular incident.

I arrived at the Nurse's Office to find her sitting with an ice pack held to the crown of her noggin. She wore a forlorn expression on her face. I asked the nurse if M. was able to return to class, and she assured me that M. was.

M. tossed the ice pack into the wastebasket and replaced her frown with a big smile. As we stepped into the hallway, M. eagerly placed her hand into mine. We made small talk as we walked down the hall together.

Passing a water fountain, she asked me for permission to get a drink before entering her classroom. I said that would be fine.

She suddenly turned back toward me just before getting the drink to ask, "Are you the uncle?"