Level Three. R V’s Idea.
Level Three – R V’s Idea.
By Michelle Lloyd.
R V had started school with his two friends Little Herbert and New One. It had been a life event they all shared. A part of their lives that meant they were old enough to do some things by themselves, to learn about some of what life was like away from home and to think up ideas that they all loved. Most liked by them all was the fact that they could be with each other for lessons, for lunch and for after school games. Having already had a few terms at school the tremendous three felt expert at all things school and there was little that they thought not known to them.
R V loved many things about his life. His family, his friends and his new found independent life away from home. At home R V was an only child so he was quiet and at school he was different, he could say what he thought.
School could be a little difficult at times. R V had found that of late his love for school had dwindled and he was left to think up ideas for himself as he already knew a lot of what was being taught in class. Someone important to R V had told him that at times he may feel as if it was all a little tough but he should keep at it and that way he would make his school experience all that it could be. It was ok to say but R V found that looking interested in something he already knew took a lot of hard work. He found his mind drifting off, he started to think about other thoughts, Lana his friend New One’s dog came into his mind and he began to think of what games they could play with her and if they could teach her something she didn’t know, it was awesome to see her learn a new command as she looked so happ…
“R V!” The teacher’s voice snapped him back into what was going on. It was the same tone she used when she was angry and R V tried to look interested in what she had to say. It was the same advice about listening to what was being said and not letting his thoughts carry him away to somewhere he should not be in school time. Ideas, he had thought were meant to be a good thing but of late all they had brought him were angry teachers.
R V waited for the school break as though it was a life line. At least out of lesson time R V could make up some new games, his thoughts could take him where they would and no one could tell him to listen to the same old subject.
Back to work in the afternoon R V found that he had finished all of his questions before anyone else. He had to wait again… watching the other people at work made him feel sad, Little Herbert had his head down right inside his book, he looked like he found it all difficult, there were other faces around him, the interested, the don’t know how to do it and then there was New One who caught his eye over his book and made him smile but all too soon he felt upset again as he was not included because he had nothing to do. The teacher saw he had finished and told him to wait quietly so that everyone could finish. Wait. It seemed like R V did a lot of that at school.
At home his parents had talked to R V about other choices he had, he could move up a class but he did not like that idea as it would mean he would hardly see his friends Little Herbert or New One at all. The school had called his parents and R V had felt as if his new found independence was all but lost. None of their ideas appealed to him.
At school R V was made to sit through another lesson he already knew, it was not that he had studied it already, he would listen and seemed to understand it all before the teacher could explain it. He had always been quick at understanding new ideas. New One and Little Herbert thought he was the one who really had it all, they said that they would have loved to be like him instead of having to find each class difficult for a different reason. R V didn’t like what he could do, it seemed to him as if being clever was something to love less and less, all it did was make you different to everyone.
R V’s idea came to him one school day. It had been as he was waiting again, having finished what he had to do before all of his friends. The teacher had been answering someone’s question at the other side of the class and New One had needed something to be explained to him. R V knew all about what New One found difficult and so he started to tell him how to do it. Before long, other friends asked for him to aid them and R V had a large smile on his face as he explained it all and finally felt as if he had something positive to do.
That school class felt like it went by so quick and it was at break that they started to approach him, friends asked for him to tell them how he could answer problems so quickly and if he could explain what they found difficult to them. It was at that time that R V had his idea, the same problem that had made him feel so different started to become something that his friends admired him for and R V used what he could do to teach at every moment he could. R V’s idea meant that he had little time to be left to wait in class and his parents agreed to let him do it as long as it didn’t negatively influence his own school work. Teaching his friends what he knew and making things seem that bit less like work meant that he loved his own school experience more and he was able to learn with them instead of being at the front nearly all of the time. R V’s idea had been something that made him, his parents and the school happy and school for him was never the same again.