justplainbil

Just Plain Bill

Denise’s Invisible Friend

During my 13-year teaching career, a very special experience occurred near the end of one school year.  It was the time of year when the days were getting warmer, when many students were now thinking about summer vacation, and when I noticed there was one extra spelling paper turned in by my third grade class. I really hadn’t noticed the extra paper until I started entering grades. I observed that I didn’t have a “Rebecca” in my class and yet “Rebecca” had turned in a spelling paper.

Like so many other teachers, I am an amateur detective at heart. I matched the printing on “Rebecca’s” paper with that of Denise, one of my quiet students. You see, Denise’s family was going to move during the summer. She’d be leaving my school and all the friends she had made since starting there in kindergarten. I knew the upcoming move was bothering her.

Once I looked at “Rebecca’s” and Denise’s papers, I noticed that “Rebecca” spelled all 15 words correctly, but Denise missed one word – she’d printed “horse” for “house.”

I didn’t say anything to Denise but I returned “Rebecca’s” paper stapled to Denise’s paper (my students recorded their grades for all their assignments in their Class Journal). I purposely didn’t check to see which grade Denise recorded in her journal.

The next week, we had another spelling test. Once more, I had an extra paper turned in for grading. “Rebecca” spelled all the words correctly again but Denise had missed two words – she’d printed “truck” for “trunk” and “light” for “flight.” 

When I returned the papers for my students to record their grades this time, I did observe that Denise recorded the perfect score from “Rebecca’s” paper. Rarely at a loss for words, I genuinely wasn’t sure what to do or say.

A few days went by. Then, when I was discussing each student’s creative writing papers (they were writing on what they would change in our school if they were the principal), I asked Denise to tell me about “Rebecca.”  She told me in a quiet voice that “Rebecca” was her invisible friend, who was going to stay in our school and would not be moving to another school in the summer. Denise also told me that she was helping “Rebecca” with her spelling and that she was glad that she was spelling all the words correctly.

I thanked Denise for telling me about her imaginary friend and shared that I appreciated that she was a good teacher to be helping “Rebecca” spell so well.

The school year ended. Denise’s family did move away, but before she left, she asked me to keep “Rebecca’s” paper in my room so that I would not forget her in the coming year. To this day, I still remember and marvel how one student helped herself cope with a difficult situation in her own special way.