The Big Fresh March 19, 2016 Long Day

Make no judgments where you have no compassion.

                                                              Anne McCaffrey

It was the end of a long day in the middle of a long week that was part of a long month. I was working in a third-grade classroom and students were unraveling. This happens in the gray days of winter when stretches of delays and snow days pile up before standardized state testing. There was a young girl, straight hair pointing up, this way and that. She picked at the hole in her jeans. She jingled the bracelets on her wrist. She took off her necklace and pushed the beads. Back and forth, back and forth. She held it up, dangling it above her head, and pushed it with her nose. The teacher, Shellie Miller, quietly took the necklace. “I’ll keep this safe,” she whispered. The student huffed and collapsed onto her back, rolled to her belly, then flipped again to her back. She began bouncing her heels and then her head to a beat only she could hear. She popped up and poked the student beside her. She started singing. Then she poked the student on the other side of her and the one in front of her and the one behind her.

I watched as Mrs. Miller concluded the minilesson. Students went off to work, and then later returned to the meeting area for sharing. The same girl brought clinking bracelets with her. She twirled and flipped her hair – a whirlwind blend of a ballerina, ninja, and unicorn. You could feel anxiety leaking out of her small body.

Mrs. Miller called her name. The student paused, her eyes round, sensing trouble. Mrs. Miller held out her hand. “Come over here,” she said. The student stepped stepped stepped around wriggling bodies to the teacher and looked up at her. The teacher extended her hand to the student. “Will you stand here with me?”

The student put her small hand in the teacher’s hand. The share session began, Mrs. Miller leading from the back of the meeting area, with a small child clinging to her hand.

In the middle of a long day in a long week that’s part of a long month, it is easy to forget the anxiety and heartache and frustrations students carry with them. It is easy to forget patience. It is easy to forget that relationships are more important than curriculum. Shellie Miller reminded me of the power of a small action that maintains great dignity. I will try to remember this in the midst of a long day.

This week we look at options for lifting your spirits and those of your students through poetry. Plus more as always — enjoy!

Ruth Ayres

Contributor, Choice Literacy

Ruth Ayres is a full-time writing coach for Wawasee School District in northern Indiana. She blogs at Ruth Ayres Writes and is the coauthor of Day by Day, available through Stenhouse Publishers.

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