Reason #10: They Give What They Have

A few months ago one of my student's family's house burned down. Thank goodness no one was hurt, but being immigrants they had little to begin with and much of their income was the cash burned by the fire. The day after the fire Anna came to school with tears in her eyes. A translator told us that the family house had burned down and they were staying with friends. Anna spent most of the day with her head on her desk. She fell asleep at one point and at another she helped me set up our new bulletin board. Her usual bubbly personality was subdued by the shock of what had happened the day before.

Enter: Max. Max is a student with a hearing aid, a tiny stature, and the goofiest personality and dance moves you can find in an eight year old. He slurs his words slightly when he speaks, and for the life of me I cannot get him to focus for more than about thirty seconds at a time. Max is in love with another girl in the classroom, who also has hearing problems, a small stature, and a disdain for Max. She spends most of her time putting up colored folder towers to block her face from Max's adoring looks. The remaining moments of her time are spent telling me that Max is looking at her again, or making vague comments like, "How do you get someone you don't like to stop bothering you?" Max persists.

A week after the fire burned Anna's house, Max came up to me to ask if I got the letter from his grandma. I said that I had given it to the office, like it said on the envelope. He kept bringing it up, though. Eventually he told me that his grandmother would like to help get something for Anna and her family. I told him that I thought that was very nice, and the office dealt with the details of getting the families together.

The day before Christmas break, Max's grandmother asked if she could come for the party that was being thrown for our students. Volunteers were coming to help rotate the students through a series of stations, including "Pictures with the Grinch" and "Decorate Cookies" while the teachers took over the second floor of the building and had their own holiday party including "Dance to the latest hip-hop music" and "Ignore the screaming downstairs". Unfortunately for the volunteers, their party came after the classroom parties which included "Shove your mouths full of sugar" and "Stay still and quiet for movies". Due to the high parent volunteer turn out of my classroom, our stations were relative successful. Unfortunately we were the exception.

Leaving school that day, Max's grandmother came up to me and told me that I have a real gift. She said you have to be called to be a teacher. I agreed. Then she asked about Anna. I told her that she seemed to be doing well, and that it was really nice of her to donate some things to Anna. She looked at me and said, "Yes, Max was so upset to hear about what happened to Anna. He came home one day crying. We talked about it and I asked him what he wanted to do to help. He decided that he would give up his Christmas presents, and we could use that money in order to buy some things for Anna."

My heart grew three sizes that day. As I told one of my coworkers the story while we waited outside at dismissal, I saw Max running off with the YMCA after school program. All of a sudden, he stopped and came sprinting top speed back to his grandmother. His grandmother lightly scolded, "Max, go along to the Y." He looked up at her, gave her a huge hug, said "I love you" and went sprinting back to his after school group. Max's grandmother looked at me and we smiled. Yes, teaching is a calling I am grateful to have received.