I made a student cry today.

The class was Life Skills math. I had a series of numbers for the boy (we'll call him "Orville") to add. He stood up.

"Where are you going?" I asked.
"To get a calculator." he replied.
"You don't need a calculator for this."
"Yes I do!" he shouted.

He sat, put his down and started to cry.

"I can show you how to add." I said.
"But in my middle school they let me use a calculator, always!"

By now, pools of tears and runny nose were forming on the desk.

"You're in high school now."

He lifted his head from his desk and yelled, "I CAN'T DO IT!"

"Look me in the eye." I said. "One of my classroom rules is students are not allowed to say, 'I can't'. You may say either 'I can' or 'I need help.'"

He stood and told me he was getting a tissue.

When he came back, he wiped off his face, then dried off the table.
I sat with him, showing him how to add. Before the class ended, he added all of his columns accurately.

He smiled, with the look of dignity on his face, the look of being empowered to do something for the first time.

"I want you to do something for me." I said. "Just go along with it."

I went to the front of the room and said, "Class, Orville said he couldn't do something. My rule is you may not say, 'I can't.' You may only say, 'I can' or 'I need help.' Orville, what do you say about adding columns of numbers?"

With a voice that carried halfway across the school, he shouted, "I CAN DO IT!!!"