Stories from Watsonville (More to come!)

There is one third grader I work with who has trouble focusing, staying in his seat when asked to, talking out of turn, etc. He's one of my favorites. A few weeks ago the class was working on a picture they had drawn in class. I was in the back painting a flower with watercolors. My favorite rowdy kid came and sat next to me and I asked him if he wanted to help me paint my picture. I was a bit nervous because, honestly, I did not want him to mess it up. But he didn't. He took his time, asked for my advice with colors and technique. He was trying so hard to make our painting beautiful. And it was beautiful. I had never seen him stay so focused on a task for so long and I certainly had never seen him care about his work as much as he did with this painting. I felt like we had found a hidden route (painting) to use with other subjects. Last Friday the class was doing art again and his teacher told me he got frustrated quickly. He asked her if he could find me so that I could help him, but I was not free. So his teacher and I decided that on Friday afternoons, he and I would work on his art. I'm looking forward to this and hope I'll be able to use art as a springboard for focusing on other tasks. – Watsonville 2005-2006