My "Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong"

 

In order to give tribute to my unit on The Things They Carried, I will call the student I would like to share about today, Mary Ann.

Mary Ann is a twelfth grade honors student and is eccentric as seen in the way she dresses, as she shows her personality and flair for the dramatic, each and every day lining her blue eyes with thick black eyeliner. Blonde hair streaked with bits of turquoise and faded purple. At the start of my time here at North Kingston High School, Mary Ann would grimace at just the sound of my voice. Directions were met with sighs of exasperation and a rolling of her eyes, her paint-splattered fingers tapping the desk in annoyance. I remained calm and ignored her slight outbursts refusing to let it show that I even noticed.

Each class I say hello to all students, making small talk before the start of class. And it was this way that my relationship with Mary Ann began. Though it was teeny-tiny steps, it was none the less the start. One morning as I talked with one of her peers that sits right next to Mary Ann, I could feel Mary Ann looking me up and down, her eyes scanning me, looking for what I do not know.

In class something started happening, where Mary Ann had once resorted to expelling huge amounts of breath, sighing and hissing in order to show her disinterest, Mary Ann began to get involved in the conversation; throughout the period adding her voice with something resembling interest in the topic at hand.

Mary Ann has not undergone a complete transformation by any means, as I still see her making faces in response to something I say or do, but no longer do I see it as being in response to me personally- Mary Ann, while bright and completely capable of the work, simply does not want to do it. But once the lesson has gotten underway, and the ball is rolling, Mary Ann joins in.  It seems to me that once Mary Ann notices others’ interest, it sparks her interest as well. Her comments, once voiced, are creative and always interesting to listen to.

I think that with any added creative element to the lesson, Mary Ann dives in head first. Other assigned tasks take a bit more of her effort in order to get motivated to complete it.

Her future will take her down a road that is artistic and creative, I can see her excelling when it comes to these areas, and I think that having opened up just a little, it cracked her hard exterior, Like Mary Ann in The Things They Carried who is able to find her true self in the dark recesses of the Jungle, My Mary Ann will find her way as well…