CELEBRATING!

I finally got my hands on my students' official report cards today.  The way our school works, quarter one and quarter two grades need to average to at least a 70 in order to be considered "passing" for the semester.  If they don't pass for the semester, they don't get the credit and have to make it up either in summer school or take that semester of the class again next year.

Out of my ten students that actually come to school more than once a month, FIVE OF THEM PASSED. I went and searched them out throughout the day to tell them.

Pedro, who has been working SO HARD the past two months, was like "Yeah Miss, I KNEW THAT. I'm nice!"

JT's eyes popped out of his head, he asked me if I was sure about 100 times before he jumped up and down, hugged me, and proceeded to run down the hall screaming "I'm HYPE!" repeatedly. (Sometimes I joke with him that he might have tourrettes, although it's really nothing to joke about, but whenever he starts saying something he says it over and over like a broken record until someone snaps him out of his trance!)

Dasean came into my room to ask for a pencil, and as soon as I saw him I was jumping up and down telling him over and over that he passed all of his classes until he realized what I was saying, and he begged me to call his mom immediately (he is over 6ft tall and acts like he's really tough, but he has a real sensitive side and is definitely a mama's boy).

I had texted Allie's mom as soon as I found out, and her mother must have texted her while she was in class, because five minutes later Allie burst through my door shrieking at the top of her lungs, hugged me, and ran back out of the room still screaming.

I pulled Monique out of Global, the one class she wasn't sure if she passed.  I asked her if Mr. V told her her Global grade, and she said no.  When I told her she passed, she looked at me and said, "Miss, don't look at me, I'm gonna cry!"

The amazing thing about Monique, who is such a sweetheart (and I tell her an unnecessary amount of times a day how wonderful she is), is that she struggles, but she never complains and works at this slow and steady pace, and is always gradually getting better.  My co-teacher and I call her the Little Engine that Could.  Monique's mother told me today the story behind her "TBI" classification (traumatic brain injury).  When she was in 7th grade, she was hospitalized with "water on the brain," for several months. She almost died, and when she did get out of the hospital she couldn't speak, walk, or remember who anyone was.  It's such a miracle to see where she is today, you would have never guessed she had anything more than a slight processing issue!