We have all done it:  lounged back in our comfiest sweatshirt and pajama pants watching a movie that we have shamelessly cried at for more hours than we would like to admit.  Shakespeare reminds us that this engrossment in a movie is the magic of the theater; as humans we have the capacity for empathy which allows us to become so interwovenly attached to the life stories that are played or acted out in front of us that we can not help but feel a part of these stories.  Perhaps we even see something in ourselves in these stories.


This past Tuesday at Manheim Township Middle School, I experienced this moment that was so heart-wrenchingly uplifting that my eyes shamelessly welled up with tears for a student who took an incredible risk in my classroom;  I realized its the human experience that we are all banded together with that make these moments magical in a movie or played out right before your eyes--no script and completely real.  My student gave his speech on Harriet Tubman in front of all of his peers--A LARGE GROUP! He has been battling with who he is and how he fits in the social world of school since he began his education.  He is one of my students with a three page IEP because he falls far on the autism spectrum and he has severe anxiety issues.  For him, speaking in front of a large group is "living a nightmare (imagine this forced out in a growl)".  My mentor teacher and I have been communicating with the special education teacher about our concerns that a few of his accommodations my be hindering his growth as a learner.  He has always been given the chance to give speeches in small groups, but after a long conference all of the teachers and I agreed that he could speak in front of a large group.  With insurmountable amounts of encouragements and support from two learning support teachers, an administrator, Mr. Robbins, and me, my student stood up in front of his peers and gave his speech. 


Was it movie material "picture-perfect"?  Not in the slightest! His fear governed every aspects of his speech:  his tone of voice, his growling projection of his voice, his tense and painfully obscure posture, his eye contact only to the podium beneath his strained fists or to the learning support teachers, me, or Mr. Robbins.  But he took that sliver of faith in himself and took the greatest educational risk that he has ever done by getting up there in front of his peers to present his speech!!! My heart could have exploded--probably just as much as he thought his heart was.  This are the moments that make you want to be a teacher.  These are the moments that truly show you have some sort of impact on a student just by supporting them and pushing them to accomplishing things they never would have thought were possible.  I may have only had a small influence on him compared to the teachers that have worked with him from the start, but witnessing that unveil itself before my eyes was the "picture-not-so-perfect-ever-but-still-pretty-dang-incredible" moments that define teaching and make it worth while.