Why I teach: Jeannette Crossley

I was assigned a sixth-grade class midway through the year, and one girl stood out as being low in everything. Each day she would try to do the work, but as everyone was finishing up, "Paige" would be struggling to get through the first couple of problems. On tests, she would need to have double the time of everyone else, and she would fail it. Every time we broke into groups to do a project, the group that got Paige complained about having to carry her. Each time I intervened, Paige would say, "It's OK. I know I am dumb. I probably can't make it through high school. The group deserves to get the best grade they can."

I tried prep classes and keeping her in at recess. I had peers tutor her. Nothing seemed to help. Then we started to study ancient Greece. We studied the first Olympics. I decided to hold an academic Olympics. I decided this was Paige's time to shine. The events would be math, spelling, geography, reading, art and so on. I chose the groups and then said I would choose who would be participating in what event from each group. When I got to Paige's group, I announced that she would be competing in the math competition. Her group started complaining that they would lose that event. All of them pleaded with me to change her to the art event. I kept Paige in from recess, and I taught her the 11 times table trick for multiplying by more than one digit. She was amazed that she could do it. We practiced until she was very fast. I made her promise not to share the secret. We talked about how athletes train, and how they keep their secrets so they can have the edge on the others.

When the kids came in it was time for the math event. I announced we would be doing 11 times tables by two or more digits. All of the contenders came up. I gave the first problem; Paige did the trick while the others worked out the problem. She struggled a little bit but was first by a very narrow margin. Everyone on Paige's team was amazed, but not as much as Paige herself.

The next problem, Paige was even faster at beating the others. The entire class was cheering for Paige as she completed all the problems of the math event, coming in first each time. Paige's face shone so brightly.

At the closing ceremonies, I had our principal come in to award the medals. He was amazed when he announced Paige as the gold medalist in the math competition. The class gave her a standing ovation. Years later I ran into Paige at a store. She thanked me for not giving up on her. She said, "I am still really low, I work very hard for my C's and D's, but I am still in school. And I will get my diploma." All my students need a time to shine. — Jeannette Crossley, J.A. Taylor Elementary