Students of the Month: May 2016

Kate "Goddesses of Light and Animals" Finlinson never does anything halfway. If I asked students to close read an article, Kate’s margin commentary often contained more words than the article did. When presented with a complicated essay question, while her classmates were racking their brains for an angle from which to begin, she could just start writing. Maybe her thesis statement didn’t appear until halfway down the page, but by the time she was finished, there was no one in the room with as COMPLETE a response. (And it doesn’t hurt that her meticulous printing is super easy on a teacher’s eyes.) Even way back in September, I had already made a mental note that Kate was the one who always went far beyond mere requirements: She didn’t stop just because the assignment only called for a paragraph or a certain number of words. She wrote until her answer had covered all the bases and angles. Kate once wrote that she liked the Greek Goddess Athena because she was “witty, smart, and the Goddess of War. I like how she is highly respected…considered to be a role model….” Well, Kate, the same could be said of you! Thank you for your year-long sustained best effort that I should have said something about before now because I really do appreciate and admire it. And I’m glad I had this opportunity to tell you so!

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I don’t know exactly how many late assignments Trace Erickson turned in this year, but I am pretty sure I can’t count that high on just fingers and toes. This may seem like a strange way to begin a speech that is supposed to honor him, but bear with me. From his journal: “I have just returned from another hard B-day with Thompson nagging me about my loads of missing work (which, I’ll have you know, WILL get done!)….” He then proceeded to describe in lip-licking detail the cookies, omelets, and other goodies he consumed that day, finishing with this bold claim: “Food makes teenagers happy!” Everything Trace wrote or said this year was infused with such enthusiasm, and on the last day of last term, he did indeed submit a pile of assignments to salvage his grade. I always sensed that if Trace focused half as much on his homework as he did on telling his stories to the class, he wouldn’t have had to do all this last-minute make-up work. But, see, it was those stories that convinced me to nominate him for this recognition. Trace, more than any student in the Honors English class, was ALWAYS willing to participate, share, engage in the content and the literature. No matter what it was about or how boring it was to the rest of the class, Trace found ways to make it interesting. There were days when that early-morning collection of half-asleep ninth graders was almost more than I could handle – just speaking into a silent void while they did whatever I asked without question or enthusiasm. That was when Trace was at his finest. That was when we would get a round-about story regarding something one of his older brothers told him about the novel or the assignment, and he recently punctuated one such tale with his typically enthusiastic, “I’ve been waiting all year for this!” So even though he doesn’t chase the A’s quite as passionately as some of his classmates, Trace does appreciate the power of a good story and the words that make a joke funny. He understands that language is how we give voice to our lives, and, Trace, I have always appreciated your voice in my classroom.