The Amish Teacher's Dilemma and Healing Their Amish Hearts by Patricia Davids (all ebook reader .txt) 📕

“Ach, I told you so. You’re adding it wrong.” Caleb Yoder spoke with impatience.

Since Caleb was her only fifth-grader, she had brought him in to work with the fourth-graders. He brushed past Susan, picked up a piece of chalk and started to work her problem. Becca intervened, quickly erasing what he had written on the board.

“Caleb, this is Susan’s problem to work out. Please wait patiently for your turn,” she said.

The other children frowned with disapproval at Caleb’s rude behavior and he stepped back with a huff. Becca was glad. Maybe peer pressure would help keep Caleb in line.

Becca faced Susan again. “Did you remember to carry the nine?”

For several moments, Susan stared at the chalkboard, her forehead knitted in a deep frown of concentration. Then, the light clicked on inside her brain and she gasped in comprehension. “Ach, it’s right here!”

The girl quickly worked the problem, wrote the answer below, then turned to face Becca with an expectant smile. “Is it right this time? Is it?”

Becca nodded, showing a wide smile of approval. “You are absolutely correct. Well done!”

“Yay!” the girl cried, her face wide with a happy smile.

A laugh broke from Becca’s throat. She loved this part of teaching. When she saw the light of knowledge glimmer in one of her student’s eyes, it made her happy too. Yesterday, she’d doubted herself so much. But maybe she could do this after all. Once again, a part of her couldn’t help wishing she could marry and have a familye of her own. Since Vernon had broken her heart, it wasn’t to be. After the way he’d treated her, she didn’t think she could trust another man ever again. And moping about her shattered dreams wouldn’t do her any good. She had better get on with her life and make the best of it. But successes like this brought her a great deal of satisfaction and joy.

“Very well done,” she praised Susan again, then glanced at Caleb. “I think you’re a bit too advanced for these problems. You’ll need a more difficult fraction to add.”

She could tell her words pleased him. Praise usually brought on Hochmut, the pride of the world, so it wasn’t encouraged among the Amish. But Becca thought a small compliment might help Caleb in this situation. While he watched her quizzically, she quickly wrote out a more strenuous problem with multiple fractions. Then, she handed her piece of chalk to him and stepped back to give him room to work.

He pressed his tongue to his upper lip while he studied the equation. Within moments, he had solved the problem with very little hesitation. He was definitely a bright scholar. Maybe that was the reason he kept getting into trouble. He was bored.

Well, she would just have to give him more work to do.

“Yay!” the other children called, quick to forgive him for being discourteous and quick to offer encouragement.

Becca laid a hand on Caleb’s shoulder and met his eyes. “Very well done, Caleb. In fact, I think you are advanced enough that you should start helping one of the younger children with their arithmetic. How would you like to become Sam’s math partner?”

Caleb glanced at the little boy, who sat quietly studying at his desk. A frown curved Caleb’s mouth downward and Becca feared he might refuse.

“You know he doesn’t speak, but you’re such a gut student that I know you can explain things to him.” Becca whispered the words for Caleb’s ears alone. After all, she didn’t want to hurt Sam’s feelings. “You’re quite a bit older and Sam really looks up to you. I’m sure he’d appreciate your help. And I’d love to tell your vadder that you’re one of our school tutors.”

A flicker of delight blazed in Caleb’s eyes. He liked that. A lot.

“But you mustn’t do Sam’s work for him,” she cautioned, still speaking softly so the other kids wouldn’t overhear. “Just help show him where he might be getting the problems wrong and let him figure things out himself. Then we’ll tell everyone what a gut tutor he has.”

That did the trick. Caleb nodded and immediately went over to sit close to Sam and help with his simple addition. Caleb sat up straight, his movements filled with confidence. And Becca knew she’d done a good thing. Caleb was very bright and getting too bored, which led to him causing trouble in the school. But elevating him to tutor would help him focus more on helping Sam. It would help him concentrate on helping someone else instead of getting into trouble. Caleb would now be Sam’s protector instead of his tormentor.

Feeling good about her day of teaching, Becca returned to her work with the other scholars and the morning whizzed by way too fast. She felt happy inside, knowing she’d just resolved a huge problem with Caleb. It made her glad she was a teacher. Glad she had come here to Colorado.

“Teacher Becca?”

She looked up and saw Karen Yoder holding her hand high in the air.

“Yes, Karen?” she said.

Karen indicated the clock on the wall. “It’s lunchtime, teacher. I thought you might be too busy to notice.”

Glancing at the clock, Becca gasped and realized her mistake. It was already eleven thirty. Where had the morning gone?

“Thank you, Karen. Scholars, please return to your desks and stand while we say our prayer of thanks,” she said.

The children at the chalkboard returned to their seats and all the students stood while they recited in unison. When they finished, the scholars each gathered their lunch pails and congregated in several huddles to eat.

“When you’re finished with your lunch, you’re welcome to go outside and build a snowman. Or if it’s too cold and you prefer to stay inside, feel free to get out the game boards and play quietly together,” Becca told them.

The kids nodded, speaking in muted voices, an occasional laugh piercing the air. None of them went outside today. They stayed inside and played games instead.

Becca sat at her desk, putting the finishing