Blowing Glass

When working with my mentee this past Friday, we were working on FCAT math practice.  This student has a very troubled background and is pretty far behind his peers.  As we've worked together over the last few sessions, I developed some level of trust with him, but this week he really opened up.  He noticed that I had a "blown glass" charm around my neck and he asked me who made it.  I told him I wasn't sure, but had purchased it locally.  He preceded to tell me how the process takes place and the care involved with blowing out the glass to be sure it didn't break.  He went on to explain how each piece was unique and special.  I was pretty amazed.  A student who is described not so positively by his teachers, had an amazing talent.  He works with a family that makes blown glass jewelry.  I was excited to hear his thoughts but also a bit saddened because I was pretty sure that those teachers did not know that information about him.  I used that connection to strengthen our relationship and kept referring back to it as we did math problems.  This made our session progress even more effectively than normal.  I guess our urban students are just like that blown glass jewelry.  Each one is unique, but delicate.  If we choose not to work with them effectively through our relationships with them, we can "break" them.  We can discourage their participation and shatter their confidence.  I appreciated the lesson he taught me.