The most important thing a teacher can do, is build a
positive relationship with students.
That’s exactly what I tried to do each year when a new group of third
graders entered my classroom. All of my
students are special and even today, I could tell you why each one is special
to me. When Daniel walked through the
door, his smile lit up the room! He had
the most amazing smile and he knew it.
He was a good student but had a lot of difficulty telling the truth when
he would make a poor choice. We spent
the whole year, working on the importance of honesty and telling the
truth. His parents were very supportive
as we worked through this important lesson and by the end of the year, I knew
that when I asked Daniel a question about anything at all, he was telling the
truth because he understood how important it was to do so.
At the end of that school year, I was presented with an
amazing opportunity. There was a fourth
grade opening and I asked if I could move to fourth grade and take my class
with me. My new principal said I could
take them with me if I called every parent and they agreed. Whew!
Talk about pressure…The first family that I called was Daniel’s. His father answered and I remember being
nervous on the phone. As soon as I
finished my “spiel”, his father thanked me for calling him and said of course
he could go to fourth grade with me.
Fourth grade was another amazing year with this class and by
the end of the year, it was REALLY hard to let them go. The bond that we had was very deep after two
years together and there wasn’t a dry eye in the room on the last day of
school.
Fortunately, Daniel and I stayed in touch all the way
through his high school years. I
remember so well when he would come to see me (and I was at a different school
then). His smile could still light up
the room when he walked through the door!
Right before graduation, he brought his mom with him to see me
again. I remember the two of us talking
about how proud we were of him. Of
course I said that I was glad he was still telling the truth and the three of
us laughed!
Daniel was accepted to a college that was several hours away
and I was so proud of him for his hard work!
He was doing well until that awful October day when his heart couldn’t
go anymore and it gave out when he was with his friends at school. There were no toxins in his body. He just
died much too early and much too young.
The day that I received that call was one of the worst days of my life. I was so distraught and I missed him so
much. I thought back to third and fourth
grade and watching him learn to tell the truth.
The tears seemed like they would never end and my heart felt like it
would never be whole again.
At his funeral, I sat with my former principal who cried
along with me. She was Daniel’s principal through the third grade and she came
to the funeral for his family and for me.
I am grateful to this day for the way that she handled everything.
At Christmas time that year, I still felt sad. The local
hospital had a love light tree where you could give a love light in honor or in
memory of someone. I gave one in memory
of Daniel. After elementary school, Daniel’s parents
divorced and his mother remarried. I
wasn’t sure if anyone from his family would be there. You can imagine my surprise when I walked in and
saw his entire family sitting together; his mother, his father and his two
brothers. I think they needed this
too. When we walked outside to see the
tree light up for the first time, we stood there staring at the plethora of
beautiful lights on the tree. Daniel’s
father pointed to a light close to the top, making sure we could all see the
one he was referring to. Then he said
that it was Daniel’s because it was the brightest.
I think of Daniel often and while I know that I taught him
many things over the years, I’d be foolish to believe that it was just one
way. There are many things that I
learned from Daniel. He taught me that a
smile is one of the most precious gifts someone can give to another and he
taught me how precious life is and how quickly it can be taken away. I know that when I look up in the sky and I
see the brightest star, its Daniel smiling down at me, letting me know
everything is going to be okay…
