Mr. Hadley was my 6th grade teacher. At that time I was a short girl weighing 70 kilograms. Boys always laughed at me because of it. So I became an extremely shy young lady.
One day Mr. Hadley told us that we would be required to come to the front of the class and read the reports that we had completed.
When my turn came, I refused to stand in front of all those students and open up to their tricks. Mr. Hadley handed me my report and asked me to read it. I gave it back to him. He walked to the font and said, “Martha has a very good report here and I think everyone needs to hear her read it. If you make strange noises or make fun of her in any way, I will let you fail right here and now. OK?”
Mr. Hadley walked back to me and handed me the paper again, asking me to go to the front of the class. I walked there on legs that were shaking and I felt a rabbit in my chest. Everyone was all quiet, including those boys. I stood there trying to be calm.
Mr. Hadley walked over to me and put his arm around me, “You can do it. I have confidence in you!” His words helped me calm down. I read the report and instead of the kids laughing at me and making fun of me, they all stood up and clapped their hands.
From that day on the kids never made fun of me and some actually made friends with me. I continued to be quiet and shy all through school but 1 knew if I had to stand up in front of the class, I could do it.
