Post date: Jan 27, 2018 12:15:49 AM
I had time before my next class came into the gym so I decided to step in and observe my intermediate school colleague and his class. Two minutes before the end of class two girls get into a yelling match.
“Here we go” I told myself. I knew one of the girls from when I had her in third grade but I did not know the other girl. She was in a white polo which in our school signifies somebody who has not demonstrated the right behavior to earn a gray polo.
“She’s from the public school system. No wonder…” I told myself again.
For some reason I was able to coax her into the hallways mid-yelling match and talk with her. Erase my previous story written.
Over the next five minutes…read that again, five minutes! Over the next five minutes we talked and I found out her father had just died recently and she was being prepared to move to an outside program for several weeks in order to help her handle her loss in a more fitting environment. She was sad. She was afraid of what her peers were saying about her and to her. She wasn’t going to “back down” from anybody.
As we wrapped up our conversation she started to smile again and I could tell she was a lot more comfortable with me now. We have talked several times since then; she is on a different floor than I am so our interactions are sparse but meaningful when they occur.
Have you ever told yourself a story about something you saw happen? Did you actually know what was going on? Did you know the background? How did you react?
All it takes is five minutes…and some ears.
ML 1/26/18