Thank you, J.K. Rowling! and Lauren Hua

Yesterday, a student in my class cried because she was frustrated at not understanding a concept. I took her outside and talked to her one-on-one for about 10 minutes to calm and reassure her that I would 100% get her through this, that she was NOT letting her mom down, that she was NOT the only one struggling to understand the concept, that her feelings of frustration were VALID, that she needed to herself with the same kindness and compassion that she brings to everyone else. And then we fixed the problem with Harry Potter!!! Prisoner of Azkaban is her FAVORITE book, so I grabbed a copy off the shelf, and with one quick conversation- talking about a thing she loved- she grasped the concept that had been eluding her <3! This is the kind of attention every single student deserves, but I could only provide that because I have an amazing student teacher in my classroom, Lauren Hua from UCLB. If I had been alone in a class of 40 12 year olds, this could have gone very differently! Go to your local school board meetings; support your local teachers, support lower class sizes. It cost more, but building teaching/learning relationships is key to EVERYTHING!