Hands Up

I took my Journalism 1 students for a walk around our college-style open campus in order to do some observational writing. And, okay, it was gorgeous outside on Valentine's Day Friday with the bluest of blue skies, chirping birds flitting from palm tree to palm tree, and low attendance on what was yet another senior skip day.

About 25 of my 36 students were present in third period, and we shuffled along the outdoor catwalk, down the steps to the courtyard where some JROTC kids dressed in grey t-shirts and blue gym shorts had an informal soccer game going in a grassy area.

"Listen to the birds chirping," I said. "Look at the JROTC kids."

Some of them listened and looked around. Some jotted notes on paper. Some pretended to jot notes on their phones. Some chatted, chewed gum, waved or shouted hello to friends walking by in the distance.

As we returned to the building, we walked past the ESE room for special needs students, past some foreign language classrooms, then math classes, and the restrooms. A tall boy with broad shoulders and bushy, curly dark hair stood still in the middle of the hall facing our shuffling, chatting, texting, gum-chewing group as we approached. He didn't move at all as we came upon him, so my class had to split to walk around him on each side. As this happened, the boy raised his hands up as if soliciting high fives, and my students all obliged as they walked by, not breaking stride or even pausing in their conversations as they did so.

After we passed, I asked one girl, "Do you know him?"

"No," she said. "He's one of the ESE kids."

It was my turn to make an observation now. You know what? These kids are pretty freaking nice. And this wound up being the perfect way to mark Valentine's Day.