Positive Student Impact

Positive Student Impact

It was a beautiful day when I went to do a substitute job at a local high school. The sky was a beautiful blue, and just a few clouds were in the sky.  The class I would be subbing for was English.  

(**Names have been changed to protect the identity of the students).

I had no trouble with the students, and it was pleasant day.  

The last class of the day, as I was sorting my papers, a young man came up to the desk and said, "Do you remember me?" My mind was whirling fast, and I was awe struck. Before I could answer, he said, "You had ISS with me." A light bulb came on. "Yes, " I said. "Wait, don't tell me. Your name starts with a "D".  He waited to see if I could remember, then I said, "**David".  He beamed at me, and we did a high-five.  He was a very good model student and he and the others students really enjoyed the assignment I gave for them (for fun) after they had completed their assigned tasks left by the teacher.  

The assignment for fun was this:  Imagine you are having a party in an elevator.  What are you doing? Who is with you? When is this happening?  Write a paragraph about your party on the back of your drawing.  (I had given this fun optional assignment to all the classes throughout the day. None of them did it except for one young man who thought it was exciting. "Yes!" he said, and thrust his hand in the air! He did his drawing with highlighters.)

But this freshmen class really were into doing their drawings!! **Bryan brought me his drawing. "Are you sure this is a party in an elevator?" I asked. "Elevator?" he said. "Yes, Bryan," I said. "Did you not read the directions?" "I didn't see that," he said. We all laughed. His drawing was of a bonfire, a grill, and a table with food, and pop; seven stick people were all surrounding the bonfire.  To make it look like an elevator, he added a box with buttons and and two vertical lines on the page.  Other student elevator party drawings featured speakers with music, pizza, kids dancing, etc. Their paragraphs were very descriptive and some had a very personal meaning to them--one girl was having the party for her brother who was in the military. 

The bell rang. Class was over. But David stuck around a few minutes more. "Do you remember when we made roses?" he asked. "Yes, I do", I said. (I vaguely remembered this, and then after some thinking, realized we did--they were from notebook paper.) "Do you remember making the vocabulary book and all the fun stuff we did?" he said.  "Yes, David, we had a lot of fun."  We talked a little further, I asked how his mother was, then I told him that the principal  had written a very nice letter for me and had mentioned that as a result of my working those ISS  (In school suspension) days with David, that he had not had another ISS day nor had been in trouble since.  David seemed pleased and proud of himself.  

As I left the school that day, my heart glowed inside. It had been a positive day. The students had been given a creative and fun optional assignment and turned it into a drawing of self-expression and creative writing. But, the most important thing was is that  I realized one never knows the impact we have on students. When we give our best, and show personal interest in the students, they can reward us with good work and if we are lucky like I was, they will remember we noticed and that they mattered to us. Incidentally, those ISS days I spent with David was 2 years ago.