#16

16 always knew what I was talking about. At least that is what he always said. He was one of the lower kids in ELA but whenever I tried to explain something to him, he would interrupt me toward the end to say "Oh, ok. Ok." Most of the time I believed that he understood me. Another lesson learned. He remained a B/C student for most of the year, excelling more in math than the other areas. By the end of the year, he came out of his shell. He was sitting with a small group of girls and they got very silly and giggly. He had red hair and he would laugh so hard that his face would turn the color of his hair. It was so great to see him actually being a kid. He would make funny, sarcastic comments. I wonder if I had joked around with him more at the beginning if he would have been like that all year. The two lesson I learned with 16 were don't always believe a kid when they say they understand something - asking them to explain it to me would probably be a better route than talking and then moving on to the next student satisfied with the "oh ok." The second lesson is that maybe the kid who acts like they don't want your help is just not comfortable and needs a chance to let himself be known in class.