“You take the good, you take the bad, you take them both and there you have: The Facts of Life. The Facts of Life.” That song is stuck in my head right now (unfortunately taking up valuable brain space) because I often have “funny” stories about Carter related to school — not wanting to read or take tests, his homework frustrations, his non-love of academics, but today I have a fabulous Carter school story.
Two days ago Carter came home and said that his class was hosting an assembly and his teacher had picked him and another boy from his class for speaking parts. I was sure I misunderstood him because a child who just two months ago refused to read out loud if his brothers were in the room wouldn’t possibly be willing to read out loud in front of the entire 4th grade. “Not the 4th grade mom. The whole elementary school!” Say what now?
Sure enough. Today I got to go watch the child I feared would never read, read into a microphone to about 500 people.
The purpose of the assembly was to remind everyone to take care of the toys and playground equipment during recess. Since the 4th grade was hosting the assembly they brainstormed and came up with the points that they thought should be brought up during the assembly: take turns, use the slide properly, always bring a water bottle and hat, wait for the recess monitor before getting toys out of the bins, be careful on the swings, etc.
Then a staff member filmed them while they demonstrated these points on the playground, interviewed each other, etc. The format of the assembly was a news broadcast and Carter and his friend were to be the news anchormen who would introduce the video.
right before going onstage
the main event
Carter on the big screen (he said being in the video was the most embarrassing part).
He did a great job and I’m so proud of him. I was also really happy that he invited me to watch him perform. It felt like I was watching a miracle in action . . .