7B

I thought it might be a good idea to tell a few stories about some experiences with my students during Institute. I changed the names a little, but that's about it.

Ariel

During the last week, Ariel was placed on RISE. It's a disciplinary program that YES uses (which I'm still torn on) when students consistently display poor behavior. Ariel had to wear a plain white shirt, eat lunch alone outside the principal's office, and have a teacher sign a form after each class to say that he had been good that day. He had to ask to enter and leave the classroom, and he wasn't allowed to talk to any of his fellow students.

The day he showed up with the white shirt on, he was a completely different person. His behavior was never exactly spectacular in my classroom, but now he was just completely checked out. He slouched, limped through the assignments, and consistently showed that he didn't want to be there. Each day, when he brought the form to me, I sat him down and talked to him. "You're way better than this, Ariel," I'd tell him. "You don't belong in RISE. But you need to show me that." But each day was the same thing. I tried to motivate him in different ways, but no route worked. On the last day, I told him, "You've done outstanding work in this class. Your tests and essays show that you have what it takes to go far. But you're not acting like you want to be here. You don't HAVE to be the kid on RISE all the time. You can change that." He nodded without looking at me. I wish I had more time to follow up with him. I'm not sure which direction he'll go come fall...

Rogelio

Heading back from New Orleans, I got a call from a familiar Texas phone number. "Mr. T?" the young voice asked. "Can you explain the homework for me?" Three minutes later, the phone rang again. It was the same number. "Mr. T? Do you have Ms. Imboden's number? I don't know what the homework for her class is." Five more minutes passed, and the same number called again. "Mr. T? I'm still a little confused. How many metaphors do we have to add to our essays?"

I answered the questions with a smile. "Do you understand? If you have any other questions, just give me another call, okay? I don't mind at all."

"But won't you get bored?" he asked with the most concerned tone.

"Of course not. There's nothing I like to do more than talk grammar and writing," I assured him.

On the last day of school, after the final assembly, he came up to me and asked to see our published book of personal narratives. "You haven't seen it?!" I asked. "Here, look at your story. It's published in here with the rest of them."

Rogelio looked at his story there on the page. Then he looked up at me, and he had this look on his face that said so much. I thought he might cry. I had to turn away because I was about to. "Keep working hard, bud," I told him. "I'm really going to miss you."

Jaime

During fifth period, I was walking around the history classroom as the class showed off their culture fair projects. Almost all of them were about Mexico. On Jaime's poster was something about an annual rodeo that he participated in. He pulled a large rope out of his backpack and showed it to me. "I can do a lot of tricks with this. But there's not enough room in here and I'm not sure if I want to do it." I told him I wanted to see what he could do after class. "Will you ask Ms. Swanson if it's okay?" he asked excitedly. I assured him I would.

After class, I asked to borrow Jaime for a second. He insisted that he did his lasso show behind the portables. "I don't want anyone to see," he said. He broke out the rope and spun it everywhere. He rapped it around himself, jumped over it, jumped through it, wove it in and out, and did all sorts of other tricks with it. Then he roped me from about 10 feet away. The rope barely even touched me. I asked him why he hadn't done this at a talent show. He told me he was too scared.

Shortly later, at the assembly, I looked over at him. He put his finger up to his mouth. Shhhhh. I crawled over to where he was sitting. "What are you talking about, Jaime?" I asked.

"Don't tell anyone about my tricks with the lasso."

I was a little shocked. "Are you kidding me? That was the coolest thing I've ever seen. You better do that at the talent show next year. You'll bring the house down."

He grinned and nodded.