Violet Affection

I'd heard about them long before they came to my classroom for math. “You think “Jeremy” was tough? Wait until you get the twins.” They were known as trouble makers, slackers, learning disabled, behaviorally horrid, and for their brute of a father who made any sort of consequences imposed by the school impossible to be applied. And they lived across the street from the middle school.

Middle school is challenging for everyone, student, teacher and parent alike. I made it my mission to be a teacher that troubled kids could come to, trust, learn from, and gain some self-confidence in the process. To this end, I started each school year with this speech.

“I promise to ignore everything I've heard about you from your previous teachers, if you promise to in turn ignore all that you've heard about me from previous students. Let's give each other a fresh start right now. We've just met each other, and we'll take it from here.”

Sometimes this speech was met with giggles.

Sometimes it was met with, “I know you've heard about me. I don't believe it.”

“Well, you're just going to have to trust me. I'm willing to try if you are.”

I've said it before, but I wasn't a normal teacher. I tried to be casual and approachable, and just a little off the wall to keep them on their toes. Bored teenagers can be scary. When “Jackson” and “Josiah” arrived, they were at the top of my list for needing extra effort. Their dad was a prominent business man, African-American, and a former football hero. He was scary huge. I never met their mother, she was long gone, but the rumors were of a petite blond who took off right after the twins were born. The boys carried their mixed race as a big “keep away” sign. I welcomed them warmly, and made sure I spoke to them individually each day.

“What are you drawing, Josiah? That looks amazing.”

“It's what the inside of my brain feels like trying to do math!” he grinned. Math was not his strong point, we'll leave it at that. But that labyrinth of never intersecting, carefully shaded corridors wandering off the edge of his notebook was brilliant. He was a gifted artist. He didn't get to take art, though. That time was spent with the special education teachers.

Jackson was a tougher nut to crack. Let's say that the chip on his shoulder was weighing him much further down. Unlike Josiah who had talent in art, Jackson was a talented athlete. He just never got to compete because he was always too low in his grades and too high on the amount of detention needing to be served. (Um, can you tell how I feel about them taking away the one thing at which they could excel? Yeah, not happy.)

We made it through the school year one day at a time, and by the end of the year, those boys had been to my house to do yard-work to earn money for the much-anticipated trip the the zoo, and helped The Engineer and me move our 180 gallon fish tank from our first apartment to our very own house. That took all day. It wasn't long after that Saturday that I ran into their dad at my favorite restaurant. I knew he frequented the place, because rumors had it that he was dating the manager. I smiled and waved. He GOT UP and came to MY TABLE, and I'll admit I got nervous. But his handsome face broke into a huge grin.

“Now don't go thinking I haven't noticed what you've done for my boys. Your dinner's on me.” I couldn't have been more shocked.

On the last day of school, Josiah presented me with a gift. It was clumsily wrapped, and he was very nervous. I opened it with a grin and found this

It's my favorite violet ever.


This is the last week of Alphabe-Thursday Rainbow Summer School.  This week is violet.  Head on over to Jenny's for more great violet posts.