Favorite Student Story

It’s so hard to admit that I have favorite students – it just doesn’t seem fair. But, there are those students that I enjoy seeing more than others. This year I have a lot more favorites, and the ones that are actually rare are those that I don’t want to see (of course, they still exist).

There is a young man in one of my Pre-Algebra classes named D’Undra. When I first met him he was very quiet and soft spoken. Looking at him you can tell that he is not very up-to-date on the latest fashions or trends. He certainly tries to dress hip, but he never really succeeds. Looking at him, though, my heart just melts. He has one of those physical personas that makes you love him, but just feel sorry for him. I always want so badly to compliment everything he does as an effort to make him feel better and to make him feel more accepted – however, I usually catch myself – as the teacher, my compliments mean something different than a peer’s. Everything about D’Undra just adds to the adorable, but pitiful presence that his physical style exudes. He has terrible handwriting, is extremely klutzy, and misplaces everything. I love him so much, but at the beginning all I did was worry.

When I first met him I thought for sure that he would struggle throughout the math class, and would be lucky to pass with a 70. His grandmother called me early on in the school year to ask about calculators and tutoring. When we spoke on the phone she told me that D’Undra struggled with every subject but that she was spending the money to place him in an after school tutoring center, hoping that it would help bring up his grades. After 5 weeks of school it was time for all teachers to send out progress reports. Needless to say, I was shocked when D’Undra had the best grade in my class – and I don’t mean just his block, but out of all the pre-algebra students, his score was the highest. I almost started crying when I realized what a great job he was doing.

The day before progress reports were being handed out I couldn’t wait to deliver the news, so I called D’Undra’s grandmother and told her about D’Undra’s success. She was overwhelmed and was literally laughing so loud that it sounded like yelling. I asked her not to tell D’Undra because I wanted to see his expression at school when he found out. His smile was perfect! I have never felt better about being a teacher. Every bad day teaching was worth it after getting to see D’Undra’s face. He told me that day, “ I have never been able to learn math, but you teach it so easy.”