Advocacy

It's recommendation time. Not that you need me to tell you what mouthwash to use or from whence your next meal should come. I'm talking about the written kind. The letter kind. The kind that parents hope that I will write for their kids. How can I put into words all the different and varied ways that your son/daughter has made my life such a joy over these past nine months?
I teach in an elementary school, so the actual number of opportunities I have to impact any of our students' future is limited. Oh sure, there's the "permanent record" that follows every kid around in his educational wake. I imagine many kids and their parents would be surprised by just how much documentation gets passed along as you make your way through from kindergarten to high school. Far from the electronic snapshot that would seem to make sense in the twenty-first century, it is instead a big manila folder that is marked inside and out with various test scores and personal statistics and stuffed full of report cards and every other sort of formal and informal evaluation imaginable. These things are as thick as suburban phone books in many cases, and they haven't even made it to middle school yet.
But that's not where I feel my power. It's when little Sally or Johnny gets a chance to go to that special school and all they need is for me to fill out this form or send an e-mail to the director of that august institution. The angry voice inside my head always screams, "Do you really want me to tell the truth here?" I know the answer. If the kid throws erasers from the back of the classroom, I can say that they are talented athletically. If they have yet to shut their mouths when I am giving directions, I can compliment their oratorical skills. Truth is, the really hard cases don't come to me in the first place. They're the ones headed wherever the winds blow them, and I hope that some happy coincidence will change their trajectory. It's that first act of good faith, asking for help. I can't say no. I want all our kids to succeed. It's like the poet said, "In the end, nobody wins unless we all win." Give me that form. Where do I sign?