The Little Victories

I'm celebrating a small victory tonight because I have to remember to be thankful for the small things. I want those big, publicly-celebrated victories, but those are few, far-between, and don't last. And the truth is I do not know the impact of any one of my moments with my students in 5 years; I'm sure that, if anything is memorable to them, it will not be what I expect. So I am trying not to play God and determine what moments are or are not significant, and really be thankful for even the smallest measure of joy or success he gives me.

That moment came today when my most difficult student (see below) got an 87% on his grammar test. This is the first test he has passed since the beginning of the year--and he almost got an A! Better, though, was the look on his face when I told him. He smiled. Not a grin; not a chuckle; not an awkward or ashamed smile that he was trying to hide; but a full-on, look me in the eyes, sustained smile. It was the first I've had from him, and because I just felt a little crazy, I decided to push my luck. I had made goofy crowns earlier in the week for kids who got an "A" on their homework assignment. They said things like "Compound Sentence Conqueror" or "Sentence Structure Super Star." My favorite, though, says, "Knows Clauses Better Than Santa" (get it? get it?!) So I gave him that crown--no, I take it back. I stuck it on his head and said, "You have to wear this for the rest of the day." I figured he would find a way to stick it in the recycling bin the second I wasn't looking, but then we got the end of homeroom: the crown was still on. He walked down the hallway to tutoring: kept the crown. He walked down after tutoring to homework club: still wearing the crown. This child, who almost never shows any emotion or connection with anyone, wore that yellow paper crown for the rest of the day. (His tutoring teacher told me that it kept falling off and he would just silently slip it back on and continue working.)

It has been a rough week, particularly with this student (for many reasons that I cannot go into in a blog post), but the thought of him smiling and so proud of himself that he would wear a yellow paper crown all around school makes my heart sing. Cheesy? Absolutely. Significant? I hope so.