L.'s Transformation

L. is in the 5th grade. The first time I met L., L. was sitting at the back of the classroom, facing the wall. L. was not participating in the hands-on lesson and was not engaged with the other students. I did not know, why L. was separated from the rest of the students. I reached out to L. to ask for assistance with cleanup, which L. gladly did.

The second time I saw L., L. was sitting with another group of students, but L. was not participating in the activity or interacting with the others. My attempts to engage L. were not successful.

The third time I was with L.'s class, I was so busy helping the groups with their activity that I did not make special notice of L.

The fourth visit, I observed L. at the table, fully engaged with the group and the activity. L. was laughing with the others.

Now, clearly, I do not have enough data to conclude that L.'s increasing engagement with his classmates and with the hands-on science activities has anything remotely to do with us. However, I do have enough data to define a curve - the curve of a smile on my face and on L.'s.