365 Days (Part 2) | ✓

277. Chalkboard

277. Chalkboard: Imagine you are in a classroom. What does it say on the chalkboard?

This reminds me of the midwest prairies schools and all of the books I read as a child focused in that time.

She didn't mind waking up at 6am every day, or trudging through the deep snow to the schoolhouse, or having to make the fire by herself. She didn't even mind having to sit inside while the kids played, though when she was studying for her teaching certificate, that was something that provided a dismal prospect. No, it was the students she minded. Or really, one student in particular. The others were manageable.

Clarence.

It was ridiculous, really, that she should be teaching him. She could acknowledge that. Clarence was not only much bigger than her, but he was only a year younger. Yet here she was, in charge of his entire education. The other students were used to following his lead, and the disrespect he showed her influenced their behavior.

Even if she punished him by making him stand in the corner -- something that was humiliating for her as a girl -- he did so with an insolence that made his punishment embarrassing for her. She couldn't whip him, and not only because she didn't approve the practice. She was far too small to do such a thing.

No, the only option she had was to be kind.

Her mother advised her on it, when she came home one weekend and cried about how she was failing as a schoolteacher so terribly. It was a difficult resolve to decide on, for she was an impulsive, feisty little thing.

But she did it. She didn't rise to when Clarence provoked her, didn't show him anything but firmness and kindness. She offered to help him with his schoolwork, praised him when she saw him be so tender with his little sister, and reprimanded him when he failed to do his schoolwork properly. It was not a short process. It took many weeks for her to gain his respect, and sometimes she took steps back when she lost her temper or resolve.

But little by little, she did earn that respect.

When her term as teacher was up, and she decided to return home and seek other opportunities closer to her family, she and Clarence parted as friends.

*

"Simply have courage and be kind."