"So, who do you think would win in a fight, Marjorie Taylor Green or Lauren Boebert?" I asked my brother in law. Unfortunately, this thought had crossed my mind several times while watching the Republicans attempt to select a Speaker.
"I mean, Taylor Greene has really meaty arms and she does Cross Fit, but....." I continued.
"Definitely Lauren Boebert." he answered.
"She's small and sneaky. She'd bring some pointy thing into the fight that she wasn't supposed to have and poke your eyes out."
"Yeah." I said in agreement.
School resumed with a frenzy. Because my school is on the bad list, we are having multiple meetings a week that take up our planning periods. And, I am going into work at 6:45 in the morning because of the extra tutorial for Rafael and Jaime. I wanted to add Jaime to the morning tutorial because his mom had asked for it, only to be told he wasn't eligible. Well, now we had a new tutorial that he was definitely eligible for and I texted her to see if she could bring him in the mornings. She agreed, as long as the tutorial was with me and not with another teacher. I was flattered. The first day of tutorial I walked up to the school in the dark and saw Jaime's dad's work truck, stacked with ladders, parked in front of the school to drop him off right on time. My days are longer and really busy, but it's okay.
I walked past the front office on the way to one of my classes and was frantically waved down by our registrar. A couple with a little boy stood there with a stack of papers, trying to register their child. They only spoke Spanish, so the registrar needed my help. I looked at the transcripts and spoke to the parents. Another child that had taken a long journey through various countries to arrive in the United States. Strange dates that didn't add up, indicating gaps in his education. He smiled at me shyly.
Twenty-four hours later, multiple teachers were chasing me down, reciting the all familiar refrain: "HE DOESN'T SPEAK ENGLISH!!". I worked with him and did a quick math assessment on him. I got back with some of the other teachers.
"Yes. His English is limited, but this is where he is supposed to be. I'll add him to my morning tutorial to try to develop his English. But...language is only part of the problem. He knows how to add and subtract, but breaks down with double digit subtraction when he has to regroup. He hasn't heard of division and multiplication. I'm not sure how he is in other subjects."
Why other teachers hadn't thought of simply assessing his abilities in the principal content areas is a mystery. I guess it's easier to just say he can't speak English and assume I will fix it.
Early the next morning, I had all three boys in my trailer around 7:00am. Danny came in dressed differently, wearing a green bomber jacket and multiple rosaries, as if every talisman he could muster would protect him from this new place.
"You look cool." I told him.
"Thank you." he answered, shy smile still glued on his face.
Later that afternoon, I saw two little faces peering at me from the school bus window. It was Rafael and Danny, seated together, waving frantically with huge smiles on their faces.
I waved back and couldn't stop smiling myself.
*Title, Top of the World, The Carpenters
No comments:
Post a Comment