Too Much Faith

A little boy I had been working with for a few months handed me a piece of paper.

"What's this?" I asked.

"It's my math homework."

On the page were written three double digit numbers in a rough triangle formation.

"Okay," I said. "What should we do with these?"

"Math."

I learned three lessons in this instance.

One. Don't assume a student can fill in the blanks. He had numbers, which constituted math in his mind, but what was he suppossed to do with the numbers? List the factors or the multiples? Were they degrees? Were they page numbers from a text or problem numbers from a workbook? So many possibilities all called math. A teacher needs to remind students what they are doing adn why they are doing it. And even when they do, problems occur.

Two. Forgive the well meaning student who makes a mistake. A school should be a safe environment to learn. When I told they boy I wasn't sure what to do, he was hysterical. He was sure that he was going to get in trouble with his teacher. It was terrible to see a little boy devestated by a mistake and fearful of the consequences. I can still see him crying.

Three. It was amazing how much faith this boy had in me, that he could hand me three numbers that made no sense to him and I would be able to translate. These are the times when I have to check myself. I can't do the impossible, even though I wanted to, even though I tried. What I could do is give the teacher a call, which I did at a later date, once I got the nmber and permission.

I didn't tell the teacher the boy cried. Along with some suggestions for making sure the boy understood the homework, I told the teacher how much the boy respected him as well as his desire to do good work. It seemed to strike the right chord and help the relationship a bit.

Then, it was up to them. I couldn't fix all the problems, just help where I could. for the rest, I just had to have faith, not too much, just enough.