"He Reminds me of Myself"

I experienced a very bittersweet moment last week in the classroom. One of my favorite students, who I would give "Most Improved" for the semester just continues to surprise me. He's a freshman and just a bundle of energy. He was the kid that just could not pay attention and seemed to disrupt the class no matter where he was in the classroom. He's the one who always has a joke to tell, and sometimes you don't want to laugh but you do because its genuinely funny. He's the one who is very light hearted and you want to yell at him, but you know he really doesn't mean any harm. For 75% of the first semester, he played a huge role in controlling the dynamic of the classroom. If he was quiet, the class could move on. If he was having a bad day, everyone had a bad day. I started talking to him and striking conversation with him when I first got there, partly to just shut him up, but it ended up that now I am excited to find out how he is doing with his schoolwork when I visit the school.

All of a sudden, I came in one week and he went through a transformation. I was shocked, I thought he may have hit his head. He was working conscientiously, getting his work done, asking questions pertaining to the lesson, and even trying to help others! I was flabbergasted to say the least. Last week, he was actually trying to learn from his mistakes, and asked me to even write some challenge problems for him to work on after the starter. He sat quietly in the back of the classroom so that no one could disturb him, did his work, then asked me to check it. Amazing. He continues to surprise me. Ive heard that he may have an ipod on the line, but whatever his incentive or motivaton is, its working!

There's another student, a sophomore who acts similar to the freshman student. He is very disruptive, and I spend time talking to him during the lesson mostly to keep him from talking to other students if possible, and trying to get to know him. He's very intelligent, one of those kids who doesn't need to read the book and just 'gets it' On one hand, that is great for him, because he's naturally intelligent but doesn't have the work ethic. He refuses to do the homework, and is fine with settling with a 'B' in the class as long as he can slack on the homework. He started out ok, but his behavior is steadily getting worse.

Last week, my 'Most Improved' freshman student came in to 4th hour during his lunch period to ask a question and the sophomore student was being loud and obnoxious. It was absolutely priceless when the 'Most Improved' freshman looked at my teacher and said "You know, he reminds me a lot of myself, well how I used to be" My teacher replied "You're right, but the thing is..he's a few years older than you are." Although an absolutely priceless moment, it was also bittersweet. One student has improved drastically, while the other took a huge blow.