Best Day(s) Ever!

I am in love with Dante. No worries... That's not my new boyfriend. Dante Middle School is absolutely incredible. On Tuesday, they officially welcomed us to their school. We were expecting a small brunch, but instead we walked into a classroom full of students with microphones and instruments. To be perfectly honest, I was expecting some cheesy song in Italian that we wouldn't understand. Instead, we were treated with the most powerful rendition of 'We Are The World' that I've ever heard. I've never heard teenagers sing with such passion. Within seconds, they had the majority of us in tears. The entire time, I kept thinking "THIS is why I went into education." I couldn't videotape the students, but I did record their voices. I'll post that to Facebook eventually for your listening pleasure. To show our appreciation, we reciprocated by singing the Star Spangled Banner and performing the Aggie War Hymn. They loved it! And we love them. Oh so much.

Today, I taught a lesson with Tess. To put it simply, we were teaching them how to write a letter. We gave them each a pen pal from the US, and the Italian students had to respond to the letter. The lesson went really well. I was warned that this class was great, but there was one student who was just awful. Then, I walked into the room and the Italian teacher (who stays in the classroom while we teach) was sitting next to an adorable boy. Problem child: spotted. She told me that he was awful and wouldn't listen and to not take it personally. After I taught the lesson and was going around the room monitoring progress, I noticed the boy wasn't writing a letter. I asked the teacher about it and she said that she was just happy he was sitting down. Apparently he never does any work. So I asked if I could try.

Long story short, this kid is my favorite kid in the world. Although he wouldn't write for me (I assume because he is self conscious about his English skills), he dictated an entire letter to me. I got him to sit still for 30 minutes, focus on a task and complete it successfully. The teacher was shocked, but I wasn't. I was just so proud of him. I later found out that the child was almost labeled as special needs because he was so disruptive. His teacher told another Aggie teacher to not worry about him because he was a gypsy and didn't care about school. But when I sat down and TALKED to him, he cared. He was proud of himself.

Teachers give up on students ALL the time. I think it's the saddest part about education. Given the opportunity, I really really do believe that every student can succeed. Because given the opportunity, I believe that every PERSON can succeed. Call me an optimist, but I really do believe in the power of people. Especially children.

I'm still loving Italy and everything it has to offer. But more than anything, I love these kids.

Ciao y'all.