Invisible

     The other day we had an abnormal number of tardies. I decided to walk some of these students into their class. It was a nice little conversation with the student on the way to his/her class. I dropped one student off and the student was embraced by a hug (obviously before Corona hit us in the US) by two students. Another student’s face lit up when his teacher announced him entering the class. Yet, one student when dropped off went right to his desk without a word from anyone. Now, the teacher was helping a student with morning work, and students were busily working on said morning work, but not one person in the room noticed that the student came into the room.

     It hurt me for her. It upset me. It made me ensure that I found a way to see the student several times during the day and say something valuable or life affirming. I think I am still doing it in some way or another other. I am finding ways to run into the class or the student and ensure that he isn’t invisible.

     I was thinking about this student the other day and was reminded of an experience I had many, many years ago. I was challenged to Try this as a simple exercise: get a piece of paper and try to write down your whole class from memory. You’re given just one minute to do so. I was lucky because at the time I taught self-contained and only had 9 students. It was pretty easy for me, but I was with a group of teachers. On average each teacher was unable to complete their list by forgetting at least 2 students. The invisible child.

     I can’t lie. I was a little judgmental of my teacher friends who could not remember all of their students’ names. Until I became a teacher of 22 students. I tried the exercise again and realized that I, in fact, had an invisible student in my class.  The invisible student is one who does not initially stand out for any reason. This student is not extremely athletic, overly popular, or very outgoing. He/She  invariably follows all of the rules. An invisible student is compliant, well-behaved, and rarely does anything to call attention to himself or herself. I decided that he would not remain invisible anymore.

     My invisible student was great.  He was always in the right place and doing the right thing. He got along with everyone and never rocked the boat. He was never the best at any activity, nor was he ever the worst. He was great, but I wanted to find a way for him to shine. One day, I was talking to him and he told me that his older brother had recently taught him how to whistle “loud like a grown man”. Naturally, I asked him to demonstrate. It turned out that he was right! He was able to whistle in the way that people do with two fingers that I have never been able to master that was so loud it actually hurt me ears. I was so jealous.  The next morning, I announced in our morning meeting that there would be a whistling competition after lunch at recess. The kids got very excited, and my invisible student was the most excited of anyone. For the next few hours, the students off and on practiced their whistling, but he kept quiet. He knew he didn’t have to practice. At the competition, he blew everyone away (pun intended). He won easily. The other students swarmed him with congratulatory hugs and requests for whistling lessons. At that moment, he was the opposite of invisible—he was the star. I often wonder if that was a moment he will remember.

     I challenge you today to make sure that no student you’re in charge of feels invisible all the time. Find ways to help them shine if only for a brief moment. It can change everything for them.