of smiles than can light up a whole town...

On Sunday, after an extremely long weekend of Leadership Conferences, I checked my school email. I had an email from "Texas," one of my headaches this year. A student that many teachers call a waste of time, a student I have called a waste of time, space and air. His mom showed up at conferences and I cried during our time together... Texas has proven to be a challenge for me. I have tried reaching out, but have gotten the figurative middle finger and figurative slaps across my face several times...

But this weekend was different... 

I opened my mailbox to find an email from Saturday, October 16th at 9:35 pm. It said the following:

"Dear Professora

First off im am sorry for making your 1st hour class unbearable and frustrating. I dont want it to be like that anymore, i would very much like to pass your spanish I class this semester and see you next semester. Although my actions in class have been immature and silly, they have put me quite far behind in classwork and homework. I am just wondering if there is anything i can do to still pass your class"
 
No signature. No formalities. Just a cry for help.
Last week, Amanda asked me the following: "if you were Texas, what would you want a hero to do for you? the hero being one of his teachers... what would make you want to work hard?" I said "a clean slate." When I received that email, I thought to myself that the only way I could give Texas a clean slate was if I excused him from EVERY.SINGLE.THING. Literally, letting him start with an A 8 weeks into the semester. I replied "come see me. I have an idea."
He showed up today after school, wide eyed and I believe a little hesitant about my invitation. I said to him, "Texas... you know I have been trying to reach to you all this time. I want to help you, but you are so far down right now, that there isn't much I can do except for one major thing that could save your grade." He was looking straight into my eyes. "I will exempt you from every.single.assignment, quiz, test. EVERYTHING. Starting today, you have an A. You need to work to keep that A, Texas. You need to show me you want this, or all of those Zero's I will remove, will come back. Is that clear?"
I have NEVER seen Texas smile. Ever. Today I swear I saw all of his teeth. He smiled at me and said, "Thank you SO much, Miss Bee. I am going to do 'good.'" I checked him a book, two vocabulary lists and the latest grammar concepts and he took off.
I hope I didn't make the biggest mistake of my life.


xoxo,

Bee