A Moment Worth Framing

Do you ever have one of those "teachable moments?" A time when things just go so right, that you forget about anything bad that has happened to you that day? I had one of those moments today at my observation location.

It was my first day for observation this semester, and I was working with a group of 9th graders. The class was mixed with regular Regents level abilities and also a "collaborative" group that was just a little slower and needed more help.

I am doing a tutoring class as part of my observation, and one of the girls in this "collaborative" group came to see me during lunch.

We were working on a particular paragraph where she needed extra help. The teacher wrote on her paper to ask the question, "Why did the author do this?" in response to using a particular literary term. She just did not understand the question, or how to answer it.

She was stumped, and making herself more frustrated. So I tried to level with her. She was using the word "regret," and incorporated a quote to show the use of the word. But she did not explain what the use of the word did for the book or the reader.

So I asked her, "how does it make you feel, as a reader, when the part in the poem comes up about regret? What are your emotions?"

Well, the problem was that she was disattached to the poem. She did not internalize the poem or its contents because it did not relate to her.

So I tried to bring it to her understanding. I asked her to pretend that she had cheated on a test because she wanted to pass so badly, but then her teacher found out and she was given a zero on the exam.

I asked her if she would regret what she did...she said yes. Then I asked her, "why?"

She said "because I would not want a zero. I just want to pass the test."

I kept pressing her to get to the emotional part. How would you FEEL?

But she did not budge. She pursed her lips and made a "hmm..." sound. Something was going on in her head, and it was great, but I couldn't help her unless I heard it. I told her to tell me what she was thinking..."just think out loud. Don't be embarassed. Just pretend I'm not here. Think outloud."

So she did..."I would feel sad"

I said, "Why?"

She said, "Because I would get angry!"

Finally some emotion! I kept hitting her with "Why? Why do you feel that way?"

And then she hit it...she hit her breaking point..."Because I would feel so guilty for doing something that I did not want to do in the first place. Because I would be ashamed of what I did. I only did it because I thought I had no other choice!"

YES!!! Hallelujiah!

This got her thinking about the poem (which was about a soldier who was ordered to kill another soldier, but then the soldier felt so guilty about what he did...he did not want to actually kill the other soldier).

"Now, let's put those words on the paper and bring them to life. This is great!", I said. I knew positive reinforcement was key.

But to be honest, I was jumping in my seat. The boy who was in the group with us got startled because I started moving in my desk when she finally got it.

And this is my moment worth framing. I am so proud of it. This girl's smile could have been a mile long. She had finally done something valuable, with her own mind, and it was a success. She tried SO hard to get to that point. She could have climbed Everest at this point. I was so proud of her. Of course, I only let on with 50% of my enthusiasm. I did not want her to forget about her task of revision.

Nonetheless, I think I will see her back in my tutoring session, and I can't wait!