FAVORITE STUDENT

I had a student this school year named Joe Fargo who I would consider one of my favorite students this year. Joe was in my 4th period Pre-Algebra class which was my biggest class this year. My 4th period had 26 kids in it at the beginning of the school year and 23 by time the school year ended. One dropped out at the age of 17 in the 10th grade and two transferred to other school districts (Quitman County and Lafayette County). Joe is 15 years old and in the 9th grade. He is one of approximately half of my students who is the correct age and in the right grade. He is about 5’7, dark skinned and skinny, has little muscles, his favorite color is green and favorite name brand is Fila©. He sits in the front row of class and answers EVERY SINGLE question I ask and participates in class lessons with enthusiasm daily. He is always interested in knowing about college and about my college and about Washington D.C. I also had other favorite (smart) students in that class but Joe stuck out because he was very personable. He always used to come in and speak to me and asked to run errands for me and came back during my planning period to get enrichment, not remediation because he loved math so much. One day in class we were talking about the grades the students had gotten for their first nine-weeks. I asked a few what their mothers said about their grades and when I got around to Joe, he said “my mother is dead. But my dad was very proud of my grades.” Right then and their Joe had a piece of my heart. I immediately went home after school to call my mom who is a school teacher and ask her whether or not any children have truly touched her and she said yes, but told me to never let them know that they have a place in my hear.

During the last week of October, Joe was in my class during 4th period and then the bell rang and I took my daily seat after teacher four classes in a row and waited for my 5th period class to come in. As they came in and did their daily routine of putting book bags down and going to wash their hands their was a loud raucous in the hallway. All of my 5th period class run down the hallway to see what happen. When they finally came back in, I asked them what the commotion was all about? They told me that Joe Fargo got in a fight with his girlfriend’s ex-boyfriend. I said, “Joe Fargo, are you sure? Not Joe. He has a girlfriend, who, what were they fighting over?” They told me that he had a girlfriend who was a junior and that he was fighting the boy because he was telling everyone in the school that he was the girls “first” and that Joe can not top him. Apparently he had been talking like this for a while and smiling at the couple as he passed them in the hallway and I believe Joe probably just got to his breaking point. I found out that Joe was suspended for 9 days. He told me that he had asked if he could come and see me before he left to get some math work to take home. I smiled.

When Joe came back he did not get in any trouble again and come to find out his girlfriend was pregnant and around the end of the school year he got a job at The Waffle House in the biggest town next to Sardis. I also believe I enjoyed Joe because he came in class daily asking what we were doing today and then when we stayed on a topic too long he would ask if we could please move on to something higher. I ended up giving him a Algebra I workbook to take home, but he opted to bring it to class daily to work in it if he was finished with his work early.