Chapter 12

Torey now has a new student in her classroom. Her name is Claudia, and she is not very typical compared to the students Torey normally has assigned to her classroom. Claudia comes from a parochial school and is twelve years old. She is very well behaved, quiet, and a good student. When Torey asked why Claudia was being put into her classroom, the person in charge of placement told her that Claudia was pregnant. This of course was a shock to Torey since Claudia is only twelve years old, and Torey was not really sure how to deal with a pregnant student. Everyone reassured Torey that Claudia would be very easy to work with, and that she just wanted to be in a place where she wouldn't be noticed while she was pregnant. When Lori and Tomaso are told about Claudia, they are incredibly shocked and Tomaso is worried about talking about it in front of Lori and Boo, because it involved having sex. Torey thinks this is funny, since Tomaso says curse words all the time without ever thinking of how old Lori and Boo are and how it might affect them.

It is crazy to think that students getting pregnant at the very beginning of adolescence happens, but it happens all the time. This book has done a great job of making me think about all types of situations and how I would deal with them in my own classroom. I really feel sorry for Claudia and how embarrassed she was about her situation. Going to a Catholic school I'm sure she felt incredibly ashamed. I would want my students to know that they can come to me to talk without being judged about these types of things. I think all students no matter what they have done need someone who still appreciates them and what they are capable of, and knowing that even though they have gone through some tough situations they are cared for.

The other surprise for Torey came with Boo. Until this point Boo had never actually verbally communicated with anyone. He would only make some sounds and had delayed echolalia, but it was never directed at anyone in particular. This time, although it was still considered echolalia (he was repeating what someone else had told him), through that he told Torey and Lori about someone telling him not to touch the plug-ins in the wall. When they would ask him questions, he would elaborate with more echolalia.

It was nice to read this part of the story because it made me feel like Torey was finally making some progress with Boo, who is very misunderstood. I hope that I will be able to make the same types of progress with my future students, not matter how seemingly small.