Alice Squared

A couple of years ago I had a student in my class with serious issues, significant enough that she had to enter a residential facility not once, but twice during her two years in my class.

I last saw her in May when her parents invited me to a celebration of her better health, and then she dropped in to see me last night during the Hershey Open House, even though she has been out of elementary school for some time.

She brought me a gift.

An Alice doll from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. She brought it because children's classic literature is one of the foundations of my classroom, but it means more to me than that. 

You see, this girl presented her first classic on that book. And she made a wonderfully unconventional and creative three dimensional poster as her project, chock full of color and touchable items. It was so representative of who my student was at the time as well as Alice from the book. I have associated my student with the character of Alice ever since.

I kept that poster up even when she left for residential care. And then the next year, when she returned to my class as a fifth grader but then had to leave again for residential care. It stayed up and reminded all of us that this girl, despite her absence, her issues, was still one of our class family.

I gave her back her poster at the end of fifth grade and was sorry to see it go.  But now I have another touchable reminder of a girl who I came to love very, very much.