Journey to Empowerment Read Online Free PDF Page A

didn’t want to be bothered with these irritating kids my mama had the dubious honor of interacting with. But even in the midst of my disgust with my current circumstances, I became aware that something magical was unfolding. Although the exact moment eluded me, the realization gradually descended upon me as the day progressed. Something special was happening. The children in Room 205 were changing and my mama was the reason.
    It all began with a look. As Mama walked around the room, I noticed that she was smiling. Then, I noticed that the kids were smiling back at her. And through all the smiling, the kids and Mama kept talking to each other the entire time. I don’t think the room was ever totally silent. Instead, there was a constant, happy chatter. From my place at the wooden desk, I wondered what they were talking about and what they were all so happy about. After all, didn’t they care? The baby girl was sick! They just kept talking and smiling and smiling and talking.
    I asked myself, “What was Mama asking them? Why were they smiling at her when she talked to them? What were they saying to her that made her smile so much?”
    There was so much smiling going on in the midst of my sniff les and coughs, I decided I’d better pay attention so I could get happy, too. So I put down my No. 2 pencil and pushed aside my white, blue-lined paper with all the neat words written on it. And I watched and listened.
    Somehow I figured out that Mama and the kids were talking about a book. A book! That’s what all the happiness was about? A book? Not that I had anything against books. I had dozens of books at home. Mama read to me all the time and we both loved it. But Mama didn’t smile about any of my books like she was smiling now. And there definitely wasn’t any giddy laughter like Mama had going with these kids. I began to worry. Perhaps they were doing something to please Mama I couldn’t do, something that only much older and bigger kids could do. Then I realized they were reading the book to Mama. Reading? That’s what all the excitement was about? They were happy about something as simple as reading? Heck, I could do that! My chest cold and my blue-lined paper all but forgotten, I decided to pay closer attention to see exactly what was happening between these smiling kids and my laughing mama.
    It went something like this:
    Mama would ask a question and one of her students might mumble, “I don’t know the answer. Ask someone else.”
    â€œOh, no,” Mama would smile and say. “You know the answer.”
    Then Mama would give him some information or ask him to read the book a little more. Then, he’d read some more and suddenly, he’d blurt out the answer!
    â€œYes! I knew you could do it! You’re right,” Mama would declare. And he would actually smile back at her! He might even laugh with her! What in the world was going on in Room 205? I decided to watch some more. So I leaned forward across the big wooden desk and stretched as far as I could, so I wouldn’t miss a single word.
    Next, Mama would ask a girl, “Do you know what that word means?”
    â€œTell me what you think it means,” she would whisper.
    â€œI don’t know, Mrs. O. Ask someone else to tell you,” one girl shyly replied.
    And Mama would say, “Oh, yes, you do know what it means. Try reading the words around it and then guess what it means in the sentence.”
    And the girl would read the entire sentence and tell Mama what the word meant. Then there would be more smiling and laughing.
    Now I was really amazed. I was consumed with my discovery. My mama knew how to perform these wonderful magic tricks with kids. It was inconceivable to me to think my mama could just give a kid a clue, and like magic—they knew stuff! What was going on?
    From that moment forward, as I watched Mama work her strange and wonderful magic on the girls and boys who sat