February is Heart Month and we’ll be telling some of our love stories over the next few weeks. This week’s story comes from a Reading Coach at Burnet Middle School. Picking up on an activity from the previous week’s story, she started her lesson with an assignment: everyone write down the best thing that happened to you this week. The fidgety girls went still for a moment as they silently contemplated their highlights. Being a good role model, the coach went first: “I taught my new dog to roll over,” she said. “I got my telephone back,” reported one of the girls. They turned to the remaining student. “The best thing that happened this week is that Miss Sally came back.”

It’s unusual for an adolescent to be so forthcoming. While our second graders have not yet developed an internal editor and freely announce their displeasure with absent volunteers, twelve-year olds tend towards reticence. We work hard to get a smile or other acknowledgement of progress in our relationships. Still, they rely on us to show up, to care about what they are learning. They crave consistency. For some, after all these weeks, they are still surprised that we show up each week.

Thanks Miss Sally for sharing your love story with us!

Pat Abrams, Executive Director