You GO Girl!

Yesterday when I was grading, I came to the assessment I always dread: B. She is really struggling in the class, and to know that I'm not helping her always hurts. But B had been so active in class lately, and I held out hope. She is a very special girl--she's sweet and caring--but she's extremely emotional. She has very high highs and very low lows. The other students tease her, but she doesn't seem to mind most days. Other days she can't snap back at them fast enough.

She usually scores in the teens on her assessments. I can tell she gets down when I write things like "See me after class" on them, because I know she's seen it all before. Yesterday, I pulled out B's assessment, expecting the same results. Right away, though, I noticed that she had done the first two problems perfectly. She'd even shown her work! And the next two were right, too. And the next. B only missed three problems, giving her her first passing grade in the class: a 73%.

I couldn't wait to tell her today. I spotted her on the yard at nutrition break and hurried over to her. I told her about the passing grade, and she looked at me in disbelief. "Oh, SNAP!" she said. "Are you sure you got the right assessment, Miss? There's no WAY that was mine! You musta graded wrong!" No, I had not. She hugged me and insisted that I do a little dance with her right there at break with the whole student body milling around. I did, of course.

I heard B bragging about her score all through the hallway, outside the door, and even in class. But today was also the day we had to hand back grade reports. B saw the F on her report card, and I could tell she went from her high cloud all the back to rock bottom. This COULDN'T happen. Even though I'd decided to hand back assessments on Friday, I knew B needed the boost. I snuck by her desk and casually pushed the assessment into her hands. She looked peeved at first, but when she realized what it was she quickly turned it over to reveal her score. Her face immediately lit up. I've never seen someone smile quite so wide as B did today. She caused such a scene showing off her quiz to all her neighbors, in fact, that I had to ask her to put it away.

I had written words of encouragement all over B's assessment today, like "You ROCK!", but of all those B picked up on just one: "You go girl!" After class, she approached me and said, "Miss, you were right. I DO GO, GIRL!"

B is why I'm doing this. B is someone I can impact. B is the reason I set my alarm for 4:30 every morning. B, and the millions like her who have never believed in themselves, is why I'm teaching for America.