Part 2 ~ Those That Can't Do...Can't Teach

**This is a continuation from, "Part 1 ~ Those That Can't Do ~ Can't Teach"

By this time of the year all teachers are worn out. We're expected to leave no child behind as we teach them at least one entire academic school year in just 6 months of schooling. I haven't gone to the doctor because I'm sure I'll be hospitalized, if nothing more so I can get the rest to heal.

But I made a promise to my students that if they let me into their hearts and minds, I'd show them the way to develop their genius and how to become unstoppable by state-testing time. And I'm hoping one more weekend of rest.....and being around the love of my children.....will heal me.

Children who began the year reading and doing math at a 3rd grade level are now doing it on a 5th grade level according to their results from the 2007 test that they took last week.

Children who began the year reading and doing math at a 5th grade level are now doing it at a 6th & 7th grade level. We've gone from the worst scoring science class to one of the highest and with the greatest growth.

Everybody learns, everybody grows, everybody smiles and laughs and believes in themselves. And everyone's fears and doubts are cut to ribbons and used as stepping stones to higher visions of what yet still could be.

I told them earlier in the year as I was between bouts of laughter, that even if the worst possible case of no one passing happened, at least we would be able to say that we couldn't have had a better time learning. Up until the past few days the room was constantly filled with laughter. I believe in work hard ~ play hard. And if you can combine them it's makes for an amazing time.

I'm not against partying, only against using it as an escape from your problems. When I'm feeling good there's a good chance I'll be the wild one at the party. (Hunter, in the blue shirt - a new student from Texas - wondering in what classroom on what planet he has just landed in)

And then I wonder where my own children get their zest for life from.

But my head hurt so much on Friday that every "Mr. Stuart, look at this. Mr. Stuart, come see what I did. Mr. Stuart I need your help", sounded and felt like a giant gong that rattled my brain in pain. I had to ask them to whisper.....and they did.

So, I have to ask myself if it's been worth it? I've had to learn the hard way that giving all of yourself to the wrong people or career doesn't work. Have I gotten a good return on the investment of my time and energy, love and life? Has what I've given.....what I can never get back.....been worth it?

In all honesty......Yes!.....And I think one child's story summarizes all of the children's stories of this year so far.

Little Miggs began the year at a 3rd grade reading level, and is now reading at a 6th grade level. This means he not only grew one year by raising his score but still scoring at the lowest level (Level One), but growing another year at Level Two, another year at Level Three, and yet another year at Level Four. He not only caught up, but went beyond!!!!

That's FOUR YEARS of growth in just SIX MONTHS!

YOU TELL ME HIS LIFE ISN'T CHANGED FOREVER!!!!!!!!!!!!

You tell me he now doesn't have the proof he can accomplish ANYTHING in this world he sets his mind to. From a child who didn't enjoy school to now asking his parents to take him to the bookstore and library....WOW!

It doesn't matter it took six years for him to find this belief in himself. What matters is that it was found. And with his mother working with him religiously at home and everyone from the principal to the reading coach (Mrs. Hool and Ms. Poster) completely believing in and helping him, how can any child not succeed with a team of support like that?

How can any child not succeed when surrounded by completely loving adults?

He, as have all his classmates, now have the proof they can accomplish anything they Dream Big and Do Big about. This is what's happening in classrooms all over this school as well as in many classrooms all over the world. But what gets noticed?....The teacher who sends dirty text messages to a young student...

We should be protecting them from and slaying their demons of fear and doubt, not creating them, and definitely not becoming the demons in their lives.

We give our lives for creating more life in others, especially the children.

Teachers who can't do...teach. Give me a break! Effective teaching is among the hardest of all professions in the world today. It takes great effort, great ability and intelligence, great sacrifice and strength.........GREAT LOVE!!!!!

Over the past few weeks I've barely been able to get up the stairs to my classroom before being out of breath. I remembered the mountain I climbed in Colorado where I passed out three times before making it to the top and told myself that this is just another mountain I'm climbing, but this time it's not just for me.

Sometimes I didn't even make it to my chair before falling to the floor. Yet when the students arrived I would feel their energy and excitement to learn and was able to get up. My son now wants me to eat lunch with him when I drop off my students. Before I know it, he's making me smile and laugh about something, and I feel his energy....and all the love I've given him, especially after his mom and I divorced....is returned back into my heart....and I am able to go on.

After I drop off my students for specials I visit Bella during her lunch. And before I know it, her hugs and kisses and sense of fun are bringing me back to life....giving me the strength to keep climbing that mountain. I walk past Sofia's old classroom, and a bit of my heart is torn away. I knew I could make it this year with her here too. Now I am finding I have the strength to do it without her, but just barely...and it makes me love her more when I see her.

Most educators are not incompetents and sexual predators.....we are regular people with everyday regular problems.

Yet we are also Warrior Poets....Athenians gifted with the development of the great art of teaching, delivered in our own unique ways....and Spartans emboldened with the strength and courage to not retreat from the battle, to see the victory before it happens, and to fight for what's worth fighting for....the development of the hearts and minds of our students.

We give our lives for the lives of others.....for the creation of tomorrow in the action of our todays.

Too many of us don't risk going far enough; thinking deeply enough, laughing hard enough, loving passionately enough.

You never know how far you can go, until you risk going too far.
- Anonymous

On my way home, aching and hunched over my bike, I see Clay and Division Street Dave, hunched over themselves; Clay as he holds on to his white bucket, and Dave who props himself up with his shopping cart. They are like this everyday, feel like this everyday, living on the street every day. When you shake their hands you feel the years of grit and grime....you feel what real hardship is like.

I know that they've largely created this life for themselves, with their past thoughts and actions. I also know they were once students in someone's class. When where they allowed to stop believing in themselves? Why were they allowed to give up? Was it because they were given up on?

I can't offer them apathy and sorrow, but I can offer them my friendship and thoughts of strength. And they offer me the very real truth of what real hardship is, and the knowledge that no matter how hard my own challenges seem to be, I can handle them......I CAN overcome them, as can we all.

I can find a way....to find the child...behind the tears....beyond the failure....and into happiness and success.........

.........I can find a way to help a child find themselves.