It was her giggling (咯咯笑) that drewmy attention. Note taking really wasn"t all that funny. Walking over to the offender (肇事者), I asked for the 1 . Frozen, she refused to give it to me. I
waited, all attention in the classroom on the quiet 2 between a teacher and a student. When she finally 3 it over she whispered, "Okay, but I didn"t draw it." It was a hand-drawn 4 of me, teeth blackened
and the words "I"m stupid" coming out of my mouth.
I managed to fold it up calmly. My mind, 5 , was working angrily as I struggled not to 6 . I figured I knew the two most likely students who drew the picture. It would do them some 7 to teach them a
lesson, and maybe it was high time that I did it.
Thankfully, I was able to keep myself 8 .
When there were about six minutes remaining, I showed the class the picture. They were all silent as I
told them how 9 this was for me. I told them there must be a reason 10 and now was their chance
to write down anything they needed to tell me. Then I let them write silently while I was seated in the
back of the classroom, with tears in my eyes.
As I 11 the notes later, many of them said something like, "I"ve got nothing 12 you." or "I"m sorry you were hurt." Some kids said, "We"re afraid of you." But two notes, from the girls who I 13 drew
the picture, had a list of issues. I was too 14 , too strict…
Reading those notes, I realized that over the course of this year, instead of 15 my students, I had
begun commanding them to 16 . Where I thought I was driving them to success I was 17 driving
them away. I had some apology to make. But the next day in the classroom, one boy and one girl each
handed me a card. The one 18 by all the boys expressed sincere regret for the ugly joke. The one from
the girls asked for 19 .
This was a lesson for both the kids and me. Forgiveness does not change the past, but it does enlarge
the 20 .
冀公网安备 13070302000102号