Saturday, July 23, 2011

Gabe's Story - First day at a new school

I followed Gabe and his teacher down the hall to his classroom. The bus had been a few minutes late and the 2 aides in the room had the other students seated and ready to start school. I was introduced to the aides. They showed Gabe where to put his coat and lunch. They then showed him to his desk. He seemed initially to avoid my presence, which rather surprised me. But he kept sneaking glances at me as I sat in the back corner of the classroom.
I was handed more paper work to finish. I was also introduced to a lady from the county education office who was there to make sure that Gabe's placement was the best one for him. After a very brief conversation with me, she went and sat next to Gabe. The teacher was placing large photographic cutouts of standard coins - penny, nickel, dime, & quarter on the board at the front of the room and calling on students to name the coins and say their worth. Gabe quickly had his hand up. I wondered if he knew them. Soon the teacher called on him. He answered correctly. Then he looked at me and gave a thumbs up. I gave him the thumbs up in return.
I stayed for about 10 more minutes, then I had to get back to work. I went over to say good bye to Gabe. He gave me the elbow and looked annoyed. I told him that I would see him at home after school and then walked to the door. I paused to make sure that he was fine. He gave me a quick glance and then turned his attention back to the teacher.
She was a very dynamic person. As I walked down the hall I wondered if she gave such a good performance all of the time, or only when she was being observed. It seemed as though Gabe would be just fine in that classroom. The elbow in the ribs told me that he was ready to try this 'by himself'.

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