The green stone in the story represents a person's outlook and attitudes in life. When the characters possess the green stone, their lives are positive, their outlook optimistic, and their interactions fair and truthful.
There have been times when I have felt I have had the green stone. When I am able to tie the students' lives and interests to the subject matter I am teaching, the classroom is vivacious and energetic. Unfortunately, this does not happen as often as I like.
This past year I had a student named Miranda. She is a former drug user and had attempted suicide the previous year and had spent the spring of her sophomore year in rehab. She is an attractive girl, but she had a terrible attitude. She was rude beyond belief in the classroom--not only to me, but to her peers. She carried on as if she were promiscuous and easily available to the boys. To my knowledge, she had only one friend.
I grew tired of her antics by Day Three last year and called her mother. Her mom begged me to be patient with her because Miranda had also been recently diagnosed with AHAD and was on new medication. Hmm... nothing changed. Miranda was horrible through February, and I was ready to write her up.
Then one of my students died, who also happened to be the son of my friend. He was all over the news last spring. His name was Chris Gavora, and he died of a tragic accident in a batting cage at Grapevine High School on Freb. 24, 2007. Ironically, he and his family had had dinner at our house the Sunday before he was killed, and Chris and I both expressed how unpleasant we thought Miranda was. Chris sat next to Miranda in class. After Chris died, Miranda wrote a lovely poem which she gave to me. I gave it to Chris' parents. They thought it expressed their sentiments exactly and they had it read at Chris' funeral which Miranda, I, and 700 other people attended. The following school day, I told everyone in class that Miranda had written the poem that was read at Chris' funeral. After that, I became Miranda's favorite teacher. She hung out in my room, brought her grade up from a 72 to a 92, and she was polite and just a lovely person. I guess my green stone made me tell everyone what Miranda had done. Her poem had been a great comfort to Chris' parents. But I could have just as easily not passed the poem on to them (out of spite because Miranda had been so rude and unkind) or not shared with the class what Miranda had done. Anyway, it was a huge turning point for Miranda, and I think the world of her now. Strange, how these things work out sometime.
I also have not been able to reach some students. One particular student, Juan, stands out. He is a nice-looking Hispanic boy who is bilingual in English and Spanish. He is a deep thinker, but just won't do any work! I tutored him; I walked him through our research project; I gave him differentiated assignments that I thought would interest him. Sometimes he did the work, but only if I hovered around him like a Blackhawk helicopter. I was never able to get him to turn in enough work to pass the class. Not did he pass TAKS, although he is certainly able. My green stone was not working with this child, and I feel bad even now that I lost him on my watch.
