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The Tree

8/23/2014

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Picture
Patrick* was an eighth grade student in my Spanish 1 class.  He was identified as gifted, but his social behavior made him an easy target for ridicule.  Even before the spotlight was on bullying, I was sensitive to this and determined to do anything I could from preventing that in my classroom.  The problem was that Patrick was a crier, and 8th grade is well past the time that it is socially acceptable for boys to cry. 

In addition to being a crier, Patrick refused to do anything in class - he wouldn't participate at all.  When I handed him a paper to work on, he would crumple it up into a ball and throw it right back at me.  The time came for Patrick and I to have a conversation.  I was kind to him, emphasizing my desire to help him (in addition to the extreme patience I had already offered on a near daily basis).
  As the bell rang at the end of class that day, I stood by the door saying goodbye to all my students.  I couldn't help but notice Patrick slipping a piece of paper onto my desk before he shuffled out, head down.

As I walked back to my desk to retrieve the paper, I was excited.  Perhaps something I said had broken through to him.  I mean, a note was more communication than I had ever received from him in the past.  I opened up the note to see an illustration followed by a short message.  The message read "If you really want to help me, you will kill yourself".  The illustration was a drawing of me, hanging by my neck, from a large tree.

No matter how hard you try, you just can't win 'em all - but you can get them psychological help, which I promptly did.
 


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    I have no idea how people without a sense of humor make it through the day!

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