Humbled

H

I have had 3 students to date with the first intial h. yep. hard to keep straight. I'm going to name this one Helen for the sake of keeping it straight.

So when H joined my class last week, you probably read my confusion, anger, and semi (very semi excitement)

This week she humbled me.

Background information: My class has "adopted" the severe/multiple special education class. My kids don't know that title, we refer to them as our buddies. There are 7 students in there. 6 boys and 1 girl. The boy buddies are so much fun. They dance like Michael Jackson, offer big hugs, and are so funny. The girl buddy has a few more challenges. She is nearly unresponsive that we can tell, to what we are doing. So weekly we read, do crafts, and help them celebrate holidays/season. It has been a truely rewarding experience for my 12 year olds, and I hope for their class as well. I wish I had a whole post on why I choose to have my students volunteer in this way, but I don't. So I will wrap it up by saying, it make them better children, friends, students and people by forcing them out of what is comfrortable and really showing them how fortunate they are.

Back to H. So every week we read on Tuesday and Thursday. My students take turns working one on one with the buddies. They don't have the same buddy every time. Since their are different skill/cognitive levels I like to switch it up. It is almost always easier to find student who wants to work with the boys, since like I said they are very high funtioning and responsive. H who has been in my class just one week, volunteers to work with the girl, "Summer". I didn't get a chance to talk to her when she was finished reading, to be honest, I didn't think about it in the busyness of the day. Yesterday when we were making our pieces for our class quilt, H was finished with hers. She asked if she could make another one...I said yes. She then began embroidering a heart with the letter "s" in it. When she was finished she asked if she could go give it to Summer. So off she went to give her gift to Summer, a girl who might not show she was recieving anything, who would not thank H, who wouldn't be excited or wrap H in a hug. It was true selflessness. To give without asking anything in return. What an honor I have, teaching such an awesome 12 year old.