Faboulous surprise!

Back in November, I wrote a post about a student stealing my iPod. I was not a happy camper (to say the least), but managed to get it back from this student the next day, which was nice. The student who stole it from me was a student I had become very close to. He needed a lot of help with a lot of things--I can't imagine living through some of the things he has survived. On the last day before Thanksgiving break, we had a heart-to-heart about how disappointed I was that he would steal from me, of all people. Then I had the school police officer talk to him about how serious this could have been. (I think I may have previously written another post about this student--he's the one who requested to stay in my class instead of move to an "easier" group of teachers.)

That was the last day he came to school in Nashville. He ended up going home to Louisiana, and decided not to come back here. I talked to his grandmother several times right after this, just figuring out whether or not he would be back. In the end, I gave her my school phone number and told her to have him call me and let me know how he was doing. I doubted that I would ever hear from him again, but I truly did want to hear how he was.

Well, after three months, he called my classroom on Thursday! I was teaching a class and picked up the phone simply because I thought it was another teacher asking a question or something. But, no. It was him! He said that he is living with his mom in Louisiana and they put him back in the 4th grade (he turns 13 on Tuesday). He promised me that he was keeping out of trouble, and informed me that he is planning to come back to Nashville this summer and stay here for the next school year. I told him to stay out of trouble, and that I hoped to see him back at our school next year.

It was so wonderful to hear from him and know that he thought to call and let me know how he was doing--that's a HUGE step for this kid!!