Happy Birthday to Timi

This morning in TA I brought out my nesting birthday baskets. The largest contains reusable stickers with themes of kindness and inclusion, the middle basket contains pencils with color, glitter, planets.. and the smallest basket contains Jolly Ranchers and Starburst of various flavors. It’s a 3-2-1. Students can decide what they want three of, what they want two of, and what they only want one of. That element of personal priority I added in after the first year of doing this, and it’s always interesting to see their choices.

“Whose birthday is it today, Ms. Dunbar?”

“Timi’s!” 

Word spread as Timi quickly made his choices, and by the time I emerged from putting the baskets back in their copy room niche, a small crowd of admirers had formed around Timi. They spontaneously began singing “Happy Birthday” to him, in perfect choral harmony. 

Chills ran up and down my spine as they continued with “Is he one? Is he two? Is he three?…” He acknowledged fourteen with a smile and a downward hand motion, at which point his well-wishers began moving slowly back to their seats for the beginning of the morning news show.

“Everyone likes Timi!” I heard one fellow say, emphatically. And it’s true. He is the Every-teen.

Timi was one of only two new-to-TJ students in my TA this school year, and the only one to arrive after the school year started. He was shy and soft-spoken, didn’t know a soul, and got scooped up by a loner who annoyed most of the other students. 

I stood by for the first several weeks as Timi showed grace to this student, accepted his need to be a mentor and friend, but then began to realize that he didn’t want to be best buds with him. The way Timi gradually extricated himself from that web and began sitting at a few other tables on a rotational basis, before settling in with his permanent TA nest, was truly impressive for someone so new to us and seemingly shy. Maturity and grace of this sort, in eighth grade, is not the norm. 

This is a moment that will stick with me and help me forever remember this group of students.

May the Fourth Be With You

May the fourth was definitely with me, and so is May the fifth. 

We are officially 30 (almost 29) days from the end of this school year and each day is a heavy weight right now. This probably has a lot to do with the incessant pollen invading Arlington. But it may also have something to do with every third exchange I’m having with our eighth grade students lately.

They are getting ready to leave us soon, and it’s easier to go if they decide we are annoying. So they do what they can to bait us. We stand strong and firm, without over-reacting, but it’s oh-so-tiring to have a handful of these exchanges every single day.

“Gerson, Mr. Lapin asked you to move to the front row.”

“I don’t want to move there. Can I stay here if I pay attention?”

“Gerson, please do what Mr. Lapin asked you to do.”

“But I can pay attention from here.”

“This is not a negotiation, Gerson. This is a request.”

“Kamila, please fill out the pa….”

“What paper?” (Defensively)

“The one with the sounds at the top of each col…”

“Ohhhh!” (Overly loudly)

“Column. You need to say each…”

“I said I got it. You don’t need to keep telling me.” (With attitude)

“You interrupted me.” 

“YOU interrupted ME!” (Rudely)

“Andrew, please park your iPad.” (Pause)

“Andrew, please park your iPad.” (Pause)

“Andrew. Can you hear what I am asking you to do?” (Calmly)

“Yeah. Geeze.” (Snarly)

“Well… then please do it now!”