Adalberto

Teachers are not supposed to have favorites. And I really don't have one i like more than the rest. But, well, there is one student I just have to write about. I have one particular student named Adalberto whom I adore. He is a precious and shy little slightly chubby Latino boy with a blockish head, big square glasses, and quiet bright eyes that shine from behind them. I am sure one of the main reasons I adore him so much (other than i never have to deal with him in classroom discipline) is that he reminds me of my older brother, Chris.

On the first day we had them decorate a little name tag for their desk with their name, their big goal for the summer, and any design they wanted. Adalberto scrawled his name in mostly legible block letters. Then he wrote: "Be gud. get smart" He spent most of the time with the design, he drew little stick figures all over it. The stick figures were involved in complex machines, maneuvers, and landscapes. Most of them were also busy shooting little dashed lines at each other. Anyone that ever got to see Chris's school folders would probably recognize the genre of art.

Adalberto is generally quiet in class, but when called on will quietly and shyly answer questions with short and sometimes hard to decipher answers with amazing accuracy; he is not very confident in his English, but my thought is that as it improves Adalberto will start talking more and more. When he is right his eyes light up and he smiles a big smile. This piercing and happy quietness really is a pleasure to have in the classroom, but hardly noticeable when not focusing on it. The thing that makes him really the center of this post is his passion for writing. This boy will chew through books and write with a fervor that is astonishing, especially given his trouble in speaking English. He like the rest of my fourth graders is obsessed with Goosebumps Books (cute, trite, pseudo-scary chapter books for kids). But he has stepped it up a notch.

My class is working on the writing process and editing, and I am going to publish their book of myths that they are writing at the end of the summer school. I have been pounding into them (or at least trying to) the importance of the writing process and we have been brainstorming, (struggling with) outlining, writing rough drafts, editing for coherence, editing for spelling, and focusing on Showing the reader- not telling the reader- as in adding adjectives, adverbs, metaphors, and similes. To invest the kids I have been focusing on the difference between a writer- which anyone that can write a sentence is, and authors- who have the duty and honor to share the greatest ideas in the world with other people through their writing. Adalberto jumped on the train and is standing at the front of the engine begging me to make it go faster. I have him go home every night and write an extra short scary story. He comes first thing in the morning smiling into class and begging me to read his 2 page long, cute and barely legible horror story (which without fail to date forgets to include a conflict written down. for example the first one had a man go into the house and get scared- he forgot to write the man fell into a pit and couldn't get out) and tell me if i was scared. It has been a great and humorous way to work with his English, and writing at the same time. His passion and energy for "becoming an author who writes books with real covers not just paper" has been inspirational and energizing for me.

There is something inspirational about each of my students. Some are especially draining as well, but each has something amazing that motivates me to keep lesson planning at 2:30 in the morning on a Thursday night. I wasn't aware how attached to the kids I would get. I want to so bad to get good at this teaching thing, because I want THESE kids to have more doors opened for them, it is no longer some intangible statistic like by 4th grade my students in low income areas come in 3 grade levels behind. Or that a person's likelihood of going to prison in a US city can be reasonably predicted based on their reading levels in 3rd grade and 10th grade. They are now real people, tiny people who don't hold still well, tiny people who use a ton of Kleenex, and tiny people who inspire me to become the best teacher i can be as quickly as I can.

I have been struggling with teaching my students the concepts of outlining this week. Friday when i was reflecting on their assessments and overall low scoring on them was a rough one, but I will get better, and I will get better because of Adalberto, Chatty Carlece'a, Moody and charming Grace, Juan my fighter, Wendy with the big smile, cute and polite Taylor, bouncy Jeronimo, Brilliant Nicole, Insightful Jacquline (who speaks nearly no English and yet got the answer "fossils" when the rest of the class couldn't figure out how scientists know about dinosaurs), and the rest of the students I have had and will soon have.