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Wednesday, November 19, 2008

A Story

As I have mentioned on this blog before, I really like my job. Kids make me laugh and I love seeing them grow and develop as little human beings. My job is frustrating and at times I feel like strangling the little angels but on most days we have a great time. There are those few kids who you grow to love...I mean REALLY love. This is the story of one of those kids.

My first year at my current school, a little girl named Dorothy was in my third grade class. She was the most beautiful thing you have ever seen and had quite the personality. She had been living out of the country for the previous three years, as her dad is a diplomat, and his job took them to South Africa. She had never been in school in the United States and had a hard time adjusting to the insanely competitive community that I work in. These people are just a teeny tiny bit crazy. For example, on back to school night, a dad stood up and said, "What are YOU going to do to prepare my child for Harvard?" Hmmm...we are just going to try to get through third grade first. No lie people...FOR REAL. Since Dorothy's parents aren't insane, they didn't care much about their 7 year old going to Harvard, but they were concerned about her academics. When she was in second grade in South Africa she was hit by a car while crossing the street. Luckily she didn't suffer any brain injuries but she severely broke her leg and missed a good amount of school. When she came to my third grade class, she couldn't read. I worked with her extra hard that year. She came in an hour early once a week to work on reading with me. She wanted to read SO bad. When she left my class she was reading on grade level and I was quite proud of all of our hard work.

Now little Dorothy is not so little. She is a fifth grader and I see her often running around with all of her fifth grade friends. This week she came up to me in the hall and whispered, "Guess what?...I made into the highest reading group!" The sparkle in her eyes and the smile on her face said it all! THAT is why I love my job!

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