Three Bits of Gratitude 010713

The Woodwright's School (Self-Portrait)
Pittsboro, NC January 2013

Today's random bits of gratitude, Former Students Edition.

1. Michael McKinney
I was waiting for the bus this morning in downtown Raleighwood and a tall, lanky kid in his early twenties started hanging around me. I figured he was either waiting for a bus or was going to hit me up for money. Instead, he finally worked up the courage and said, "Are you a Franklin?"

Turns out he was a former student of mine from close to 20 years ago. I recognized his name, then started to see the youngster he used to be in his mature face. Shorten him by about two-thirds, take away the well-styled braids, and he was back to being the kid who was both surprised and laughing at himself when he learned that sticking a straightened paperclip into an electrical socket hurts.

"I was just thinking about you the other day," he told me. "I was talking to my cousin and asked her if she remembered when Mr. Franklin showed us a talking computer in the library at Fuller. Do you remember that? I remember thinking, wow, a talking computer! Today that's nothing, but back then, it was really something."

Teaching is an act of faith. You do your best to show someone something new but you never know what will catch with them and what won't. Or if students will even remember you. (Some of mine haven't, which is disappointing.) This was a great surprise that made my day.

2. Sharon Rose Goldberg Goldtzvik
Sharon was one of my favorite students. When she and her family moved to Israel for a year she wanted to have a picture taken with me -- I still have my copy. I'm kneeling on the top of the library steps and she's standing next to me, happy to finally be just about my height. We stayed in touch while they were gone (mostly through her older brother, who I also taught) and I was very happy to see her come back a year or so later.

The day of the Newton shootings I posted something to FB about having been an elementary school librarian and not being able to imagine what must have gone on in that school that day. I also wrote this:

"To all of my former students: you were each cool, special individuals and it was my honor to have be able work with you when you were young. Tell someone you love how much they mean to you today, and teach your own children well."

Sharon wrote back saying that she had recently spoken to a client about Media Impact and deceptive advertising. Her talk was based on a special class I taught to a select group of kids at her school about 15-ish years ago. She ended her comment by saying:

"That is to say, thank you. It was our honor to have you as a teacher."

3. Robin Willis
Is one of my former students who I found on FB, back when you needed a .edu email address to join. I asked her what she was majoring in in college and she told me she was a theatre major. I wondered what she was going to do with her degree and she said she was going to try to change people's lives through the medium.

I'm afraid I was a bit of a jerk (or at least that's how I've remembered it) and made some discouraging comment about not knowing how that could happen in today's world.

Then she went off to do a graduate program in Theatre in South Africa. While there she put together short plays for women on hygiene, pre-natal care, and nutrition, as well as teaching village children how to write, act, and direct their own plays about issues important to them. It was clear from her writings that she was accomplishing exactly what she had said she was going to do, and was doing it with a respect for the people she was communicating with and their customs. Now she's living in Korea teaching English and continually making the world a far better place.

I love having students tell me I made a difference. I love having them show me how dumb-headed wrong I can be, too.

...