One of the Best Compliments I Have Gotten in A Year and A Half!

In my class right now, we are doing picture videos. I have the kids bring in 30 or 40 pictures of themselves from the time they were born until now. We teach them how to scan. Even show them some basics in Photoshop. Then we do Ken Burns style picture moves to make it all look professional. One of the things I tell them is that we are doing this as a surprise gift for a mother, father, grandmother, aunt, uncle, or friend. I try to cover all of the areas because we all know our kids of from all kinds of different families now. Which brings me to my story of Courtney. She is a BVP II student. Last year when we did this project, her mom was sick with cancer and Courtney really got into the project to give to her mom. Courtney's mom has been sick most of her life and with that, Courtney has taken on an Emo type look and to some teachers, attitude. Last year, I really had a heart for what she was going through and it wasn't long until after she finished her video that her mom passed away. So, when I announced the project for this year, she came to me and said, "Mr. Maynard, I don't know if I can do this again." A lot of teachers not getting close to Courtney, wouldn't understand why she couldn't do it. I am not even sure a lot of her main stream teachers even know she lost her mom. So, I told her I understand. Is there a picture video that you could do this year? She went on to talk about how her boyfriend has been there through all of this for her. So, I said, "Well, there's your answer. Let's do a video for him." She replied, "Mr. Maynard, you are my favorite teacher. If every teacher was like you, I would love coming to school." I thanked her and told her that she had made my day. Or, actually, I guess she has make my first year and a half.