School reflections: grade 5 Easter season memory, part 2
Self-tutoring about peers and points of view: the tutor continues from yesterday.
In yesterday’s post I begin discussing a peership from my grade 5 year, about which I’ll continue.
As I mention, Chris had cut out the words “Mother’s Day” from a different piece of paper, then pasted them over the word “Easter” in order to adapt the Easter card to a Mother’s Day one. I alone watched her do so in our classroom, with surprise.
After the glue had safely bonded, she picked up the card. “What do you think?” she asked.
I pointed to the back of it, where it said “Peace be with you.”
“Do you still want that on it?” I asked. It seemed a natural message for Easter, but perhaps less so for Mother’s Day.
“It won’t matter,” she shook her head slightly. Somehow she gave me to understand that no one would look at the back of the card.
Although Chris and I had nothing in common, I respected her, and enjoyed hearing about her life, so hard for me to imagine. From all she told me, I could divine that she could practically run a household, while I was still a child. I knew that, and even knew she knew it, too.
What surprised me, then, was that I’d never been in a class that didn’t do a Mother’s Day project: obviously, I concluded, we’d do so in class in time for Mother’s Day. If I knew that, why didn’t Chris assume it, too, and then just wait for the chance to make her mother a card in class? I didn’t tell her what I was thinking, because I didn’t want to suggest her making a Mother’s Day card on her own time was redundant.
Since then, I’ve realized there might have been a couple of reasons she did so:
- She might have come from a broken home and had two mothers (which could explain, of course, why she had so much responsibility).
- Perhaps, for some reason, she’d lost faith that our teacher would schedule a Mother’s Day project.
The second reason, above, would perhaps show even more sophistication from Chris than I’ve imagined. Looking back, our assigned teacher in that class was ancient, and even had family who needed her help. As the year progressed, we had a substitute often. Did Chris anticipate that, with the class divided among perhaps several teachers, possibly none would plan for Mother’s Day? If such was her notion, she already thought like a parent should – in that way, anyhow.
A child can accept so much that, as an adult, they will wonder about.
Jack of Oracle Tutoring by Jack and Diane, Campbell River, BC.
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