By Michelle George

I had the opportunity to attend some training last month with a colleague I don’t know very well. I’ve worked in the same building with this teacher for three years now, but I’ve rarely been down to her room. I suppose I had my own assumptions of how good a teacher she was from snippets I’d heard in the hallways from students, but I really had no clear idea who she was as a person. That was my loss.

She is, on the surface, quite different from myself. She is quiet and unassuming. She doesn’t spout off in faculty meetings, and she doesn’t volunteer to head committees or attend trainings. She works with special-needs kids, and keeps a relatively low profile.

Now our training was a good four-hour drive away, so we had plenty of time to talk and get to know each other. I usually jump into the conversation, but this time I sat back and listened. This teacher, I’ll call her Alice, spoke little at first, but in time she began to loosen up and share some of her story.

Someone in the car had mentioned a student who was particularly difficult and demanded a great deal of classroom management from his teachers. After his name came up, Alice sat upright and leaned forward in the car. She began by saying this young man had to deal with issues at home that most people weren’t aware of, and the fact that he was in school was a bit of a miracle. She went on to tell the story of how last winter he had come to school in an old ratty T-shirt and jeans that were considerably too short for him. His toes were poking out of the sizable holes in his tennis shoes, and he was soaked from the rain. When she asked him where his coat was, he growled out, “What coat?” That very day Alice contacted our teachers’ union’s children’s fund and secured a grant of $200 to get him some clothes for school.

Alice next contacted this boy’s mother and asked if she could take them both shopping. The mother was hesitant, but consented mainly because she had worked with Alice and knew that her son’s welfare was the top motivator. The next weekend Alice picked mother and son up at their home and drove them to the nearest shopping mall, nearly 60 miles away. The young man took the task seriously. He visited all of the stores first, and then asked to go to the nearby discount clothing store where he hoped to make better use of his funds. There he shopped the sales aisles and managed to buy two pairs of jeans, three shirts, a sweater, a coat, a pair of tennis shoes for P.E., and a pair of casual shoes for daily use. He was elated with his new wardrobe and excited to return to school looking more like everyone else. Alice treated both mother and son to lunch and then drove them back home.

What is possibly most remarkable about this story is that her selfless service is really not remarkable at all. Alice has taken several of her students on shopping sprees like this before, and undoubtedly she will do so again. She doesn’t claim her gas or the cost of lunch, and she doesn’t ask for a thank you or for recognition. She does it because she cares about that boy, just as she cares about all of her students. She realizes that it takes more than books and pens to help her students be successful, and she’s willing to do what it takes to help fill their needs.

I wouldn’t know this about Alice if I hadn’t been in that car with her last month. Most people will never know, and I’m sure Alice is just fine with that. But I am glad to be able to share her story with others because I know there are many Alices in our schools today. We can all be thankful for their generosity and try to learn from their example. One person can make an enormous difference in the life of a child and a family. That is an awesome gift, and an honorable challenge for all of us who strive to educate our communities’ children.

Michelle S. George is a language arts middle school teacher in Orofino, Idaho. She has a B.A. in English and secondary certification in English, reading, and journalism. Michelle has been teaching seventh and eighth grade for 20 years, and still loves going to school, as a teacher and a student. She has published a variety of lesson plans and written several award-winning grants.