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These 3 Words Broke My Heart That Day
I’m sharing a story with you from my teaching days…
It was the first day of school and my new 5th graders were excited and nervous and talkative all at once. By the end of the week it was obvious that Freddy was going to be my challenging student that school year.
He wouldn’t sit still, did not complete work in class, and said he couldn’t do the homework I was assigning to everyone. On Friday I sent him home with a note to give to his mother. I wanted to see her on Monday morning. Freddy told me she had to leave very early to get to work. I agreed to meet with her in the parking lot at 6. I was the first teacher at school each morning and the custodian opened the gate for me by 6:15.
I waited until 6:30 on Monday morning and Mom never showed up so I went into the classroom to set up for the day. A few minutes later Freddy appeared at the door. He apologized and told me he couldn’t explain why she hadn’t come. I said little and he went out on the yard until the bell rang.
After school I had work to finish and when I finally left around five I drove to Freddy’s apartment building. I was used to visiting my students and looked forward to meeting everyone. I walked up the stairs and knocked on the door of apartment 12. I knocked again, more loudly this time and within a few minutes Freddy appeared at the…
