Success Story

Reflecting on this year, I think that the biggest success I've had focuses on one specific student. T is an exceptional education student who was placed in my class through the inclusion program. On his first day in the room, we were doing a read-aloud and he outright refused to read. Now T has somewhat of a reputation for being a bad boy and I was all prepared to turn on my "handle him" attitude. Well, I guess I wasn't in the mood that day because I didn't. A couple days later, I asked him why he'd refused and he said that it was because he read very slow. He didn't want to be embarrassed in front of the other students. Some of his classmates jumped in to tell him that they didn't read well either or that they had other problems in the class. This kind of set him on ease. I'll admit that from there it was up and down. Some days I would be so proud of him and other days he wouldn't do his work. Usually on these days, I cock my head to one side and give him a look. He'd give me a little shy smile and start to work. In October, his exceptional teacher called me and told me that T would no longer be coming to my class. He was being put back into a self-contained classroom. The next day, T showed up at the door to my classroom begged me to let him stay. I talked to his teacher and she agreed to let him stay that day. The day's lesson was about recognizing rhyme scheme and writing short poetry. The class was loving every minute of it. T called me to his desk about 15 minutes before the bell rang and said, "Ms. Bowens, I did it. I wrote a poem." He was so proud of himself and I was so proud of him. That turned out to be my last day teaching Language Arts before I was moved to Reading. I still remember, however, the look on his face when he finished his poem without any help form me. Here's what it said:
I'm thankful for basketball
I am good at it
I hoop and I ball
And I never quit.
ABAB