Do you like black people?

Since I teach in a public high school you never know what your students are going to ask you.  One day one of my black students said, “Do you like black people?”

I said, “Of course, I like black people.  That reminds me of a song I learned when I was a little girl – “Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world, red and yellow, black and white.  They are precious in His sight.  Jesus loves the little children of the world.”  

Another student said, “Yeah.  I remember that song.”

Then we went back to Algebra problems…They like to get my mind off of math, but I have to remember that I’m getting paid to teach math, not Sunday School.  It was a great GodSpot, though! 

My students know that I try to treat all students equally.  I’ll have to admit that I had 2 really special students this past year.  Both were black.  Clyde was failing Algebra II with a 48 average by the last nine weeks of school.  I was teaching in small groups by then.  We had an uneven number so I became Clyde’s partner.  We worked problems together whenever I wasn’t helping other students.  He worked harder than he had all year.  He turned to me one day and said, “You’re a very good teacher.”   WOW!  What an encouragement.  You don’t hear that very often, especially from a student who is failing.  Clyde ended up passing the state end-of-course exam and passed for the year.

Another student named Devon was passing my Algebra II class this year, but needed to pass the state end-of-course exam in Geometry to receive an advanced diploma.  She had taken it twice last year and failed both times under another teacher.  Her former teacher didn’t want to tutor her so I volunteered.  I tutored her for 3 weeks, before and after school.  She failed twice, but showed improvement each time.  We kept working on her mistakes.  I told her that I was praying for her and that we were going to celebrate after she took the test the final time, whether she passed, or not.  She had worked hard and deserved the treat.  Imagine our excitement when she passed.  We went across the street, and I treated us both to a banana split!

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