Spotlight on Steven

by Donna Swagerty Shreve

I had six years of teaching experience and I was finally able to move to older students. I was now teaching sixth graders at a country school on Davis Road. The school had the long corridors with the basics of the fifties design when it was built. I felt my biggest challenge was motivating those students who had already “dropped out.” They showed up each day but they did the bare minimum required, if that. Somehow school had failed them and there was as if there was an unwritten agreement that if I left them alone, they would stay quiet and out of trouble. One of those students stood out because he was so quiet that he seemed to disappear.

Steven reminded me of a modern day Huckleberry Finn. He was not mischievous but Steven had no use for school. He was of medium size and would never grow up to be much more than average in height. He had sandy blond hair that had that just got of bed look. He walked around looking at his feet and had an air of defeat all around him. He had “drop-out” written all over him.  His skills were low and he had accepted his fate of being considered a loser. At recess, he wandered at the playground by never engaging in group games. He was an only child that lived with his parents in a small house right on the slaughterhouse grounds of Alpine Meats just down the road. Steven was surrounded by slaughter and adults who did the slaughtering. His father was a security guard on the premises. When most students would bring in pond water for one of our microscope lessons, he brought in water samples from the bloody run off of the slaughterhouse.

Steven’s one talent was his knowledge of fish. He was quite the fisherman in the nearby creeks.  I was able to create my own curriculum in 1974 and decided everyone needed to learn about fish and Steven could be my assistant. I asked him if he was willing to help me. We planned out a lesson that involved dissecting one fish for every three students. I said I would supply a diagram of the insides of the fish if he could lead us in finding each organ. He now had to catch ten medium sized fish while I rounded up the necessary tools for our lesson. On the assigned day Steven was true to his word. He brought in an ice chest with ten freshly caught fish. I had a back up plan in case he didn’t come through. Steven was known for not bringing in homework or even coming to school on a regular basis.

Steven came through beyond my wildest dreams. I put him in charge of the directions for how to handle the fish and he actually spoke up with his usual quiet voice and took charge. He roamed the room as the dissections started and helped where he was needed. He definitely gained status in many of the students’ eyes. I carefully watched him on the playground to see if his status had changed. He joined in on the flag football games for a bit. He was basically a loner to add to his school miseries.  

His attendance picked up and then he was absent for long enough for me to check on him with a phone call to his parents. He had come down with valley fever and would miss almost a month of school. So frustrating! The classmates had to be informed along with their parents and Steven was in isolation until he could be declared free of anything contagious. Steven did return but I had to concentrate on catching him up on basics so he could have a chance in seventh grade. I was limited in spending extra time with him as he rode the bus after school and could not stay after school for extra help. 

Looking back I wish I had been more aggressive in arranging after school time so more could have been done for Steven. His parents both worked and he was limited to the bus for transportation. He was not allowed to walk home as he would have to cross a busy Davis Road that had no shoulder for safe walking by pedestrians. I gave him one special day but it seemed to be too little, too late. He still haunts me as I wish I could have done more for him.

10/20/2016

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