I looked around the classroom. This was normally my fullest class but it was missing about a quarter of the students.

“Huh,” I mused aloud. “Well, Daniel and Michaela both have the flu which leaves Erin, Deb, and Desiree still missing. Are they all on the basketball team?”

“Yeah, but only Desiree is any good. The rest are second string.”

“Well, maybe something’s going on with the coaches and they’re keeping the team late.”

I continued with the lesson, getting the class started on their projects.

As the class worked on their One-Pager projects, I returned to my desk to take attendance. Pulling up my computer, I saw that I had e-mail with Erin, Deb, and Desiree as subject headers. All three had been suspended.

During lunch, I headed up to the front office to find out what had happened to my girls. I had received two more e-mail regarding suspended girls.

“What’s going on with all my girls?” I asked the clerk.

“Did you hear about yesterday’s fight?” she responded.

“Nope.”

“Well, some girls decided to fight in the girls’ locker room. Desiree, rather than telling the coaches, decided to record the fight on her iPhone. The rest of them uploaded the video to Youtube and sent the video to their friends. They didn’t check the background and some of the girls in the background weren’t all the way dressed. The administrators are trying to get all the video destroyed before it goes any further.”

“When did this happen?”

“Yesterday.”

I wonder how far the video has spread in 24 hours. I wonder if we’re going to be a news story anytime soon.

We’re reading “Hard Times,” part of the Read180 program. Today’s selection deals with a child who was abandoned but learns how to overcome the challenges of life.

William raises his hand, snuffling noisily. He is so proud when he has something to contribute to discussion. He waves even more strongly, making “oh! oh!” noises. Students duck the snot flinging off the ends of his fingers as he tries to catch my attention.

“I’m abandoned! I’m abandoned! My mother abandoned me when I was just a kid!”

Sadly, enough, he’s right. Several years ago, William and his sister, Daisy, after suffering years of neglect, were abandoned by their mother. Court papers say they were found after living on their own in an empty apartment for several days. They live in a foster home with several other foster kids now.

After class, William lingers in the doorway, still snuffling despite the dozens of kleenex stuffed into his pockets.

William has news to share.

“Do you remember Chris?”

“Chris who?”

“Chris Palmer. He says, ‘hi.’”

“How do you know Chris? He should be almost finished with high school now.”

“He’s a sophomore. He got adopted this weekend. He lived with me at the foster home.”

“Really? How about that. And he got adoped?”

“Yes, ma’am.” William pauses. “I’m for sale, too. Maybe you’ll want to buy me so I can have a real family like Chris.”

My heart breaks for William and Daisy. These poor kids.

I was astonished by who showed up: a teacher from California.

As it turns out, only one other teacher came but what a story! Lora was not in any way connected with DEN. Instead, she is the distant relative of a friend who had heard about my event through Facebook. Lora is from San Francisco and on her way to visit family in the Northeast. Her flight was cancelled, rerouted, etc. and she found herself stranded for the day in DFW. She asked for ideas of stuff to do on Facebook to while away the time and someone pointed her in my direction at the Kimbell. Thus, we met.

Lora doesn’t use Discovery; she’s not even sure they have it available at her school but she’s going to ask. We spent the afternoon talking about school, Discovery, lesson planning and curriculum, art, and how to use art in the classroom. We ended up visiting both the Kimbell and the FW Museum of Modern Art. We both found art we thought we could use in the classroom. We both had ideas for lesson plans by the time we left.

She asked for information about DEN, which I was able to supply. I’m hoping she left as inspired by me as I was by her.

Even though it was just the two of us, I’m glad I didn’t skip the event. I feel I made a very important contact… and perhaps a new friend.

In 2012, I was selected to be a giver in the US’ first World Book Night giveaway. I was given a list of 30 books to provide to reluctant readers from which I was to choose three titles as possible giveaways. In addition to Because of Winn Dixie, I chose Friday Night Lights and Speak. World Book Night and Barnes and Noble selected Because of Winn Dixie as my giveaway book.

I hadn’t read the book nor had I seen the movie. To introduce World Book Night to the students selected from ESL and remedial classes, I bought and played the movie. (Watching the movie first is a “best practice” for ESL students. The movie provides a visual context for the book.) To lure students to this afterschool activity, I provided Oreos and fruit juice.

13 students showed up. Several students began reading the book as the movie was running. A small group of ESL students held commentary as the movie played. All the students appeared pleased with receiving their very own copy. One child, Lester, couldn’t believe that he was getting his very own book. (He’s in the foster care system and carries all his belongings in a plastic bag.)

Over the course of the next several weeks, students would drop by and let me know where they were in the book. Lester asked if he could borrow the movie to watch at home as he read. I lent it to him over Spring Break. Later, he asked if he could have another copy of the novel. Some boys had bullied him and torn out the pages before he was done. Fortunately, I had extras.

I donated the extra copies of the book to the medium security prison my mother works at. She runs a program at the prison wherein the prisoners record themselves reading books aloud. The books and recordings are sent to the prisoners’ children so that the children have books read to them by their parents.

Last night, in a final effort to put off doing my summer homework, I finally read Because of Winn Dixie. It’s a charming book and I can see its appeal. Animal and dog lovers will appreciate the good qualities of Winn Dixie, the dog. Both children and adults can appreciate the loneliness of a girl moving to a new town as well as the loneliness of her father, an abandoned husband. Parents in my very conservative school will appreciate the “Christian” feel to the book which never feels preachy.

I really, really appreciate Kate DiCamllo’s afterword. I think I’ll be adopting her mantra “writing is seeing” as part of my theme for the next school year.

Note: I have posted this book as one of my books for reluctant/struggling readers on Pinterest