Eric Has a Fan

Eric is a star to one little boy in my room.

Last semester, Eric came pretty regularly on his day off on Monday's for an hour to tutor students in reading (which I believe is part of the key to my students' good test scores in December). The first couple weeks of the semester, he was busy playing catch-up and was unable to come in... meanwhile back at the ranch, I was having some serious behavior issues with one of my students whom I will now refer to as Stu.

Last Monday, however, Eric was back. As soon as my students saw him, they got very excited and started shouting, "Look Mrs. Anderson! I see Mr. Anderson!" (Believe it or not, they haven't put it together that we're married. They do think it's cool though that we have the same last name!) That morning, I had informed my students that he was coming in and had told Stu that if he did his best he would get to work with Eric in the afternoon. On Sunday, our naughty kittens had scratched us both, so Stu noticed my band-aid right away and wanted to know what happened, which I explained. (In my short experience as a teacher, I have noticed that kids are enthralled with their teacher's injuries)

Well Stu did much better than usual, so as soon as Eric arrived he went off to work with him in the corner of the room. -Why is it that the same activity is 10x more exciting with Eric than with me ;)- As soon as they sat down, Stu noticed a long scratch on Eric's hand and asked what happened. Eric explained, and Stu shouted across the room at me, "Mrs. Anderson, Mr. Anderson got scratched by a cat too!" As Eric was leaving that day, he told Stu to listen to his teacher and to have good behavior during the week.

The next morning on Tuesday, Stu greeted me with "Is Mr. Anderson coming today?" "Not today," I said, "But he will come on Monday." Side note: Stu had a great day. I told him I'd see Mr. Anderson and let him know how he did.

Wednesday morning: "Is Mr. Anderson coming today?" "Not today," I said, "But he will come on Monday." Side note: Stu had another good day. Mr. Anderson was informed.

Thursday morning: "Is he coming today???" This time I got out the calendar. We pointed to Thursday and counted how many days until Monday. He had a pretty good day.

Friday morning: "Is he coming today?" Sad news was delivered. Another decent day.

Sunday evening: I informed Eric that boy oh boy had he better be there on Monday!

And finally Monday, there was Mr. Anderson right after art. Stu was very excited. Even after Eric left, he talked about him the rest of the day... Stu is quite a big fan.

But I'm a bigger one :)