A Grape, A Dare, and A Heroic Teacher

I was recently reminded of one of the scariest moments of my teaching career thus far. Actually, it was scary at the moment, but now it is somewhat humorous. My second year of teaching I was at the lunch table one day when a student ran up to my table holding his throat with both hands. I determined that he was choking and immediately leaped from my chair to administer my loose interpretation of the Heimlich maneuver. Another teacher ran to get the nurse as I put my arms around him and proceeded to pull upward. Now, please keep in mind I am 6 feet tall, so in order for me to apply upward force I was actually lifting this child off the floor. So here I stand in the middle of the lunchroom lifting this poor child off the floor while his legs flail wildly. The nurse finally came in and asked him to cough hard. The lunchroom was dead silent as hundreds of eyes looked on at my heroic efforts. After the child swallowed the grape that he bet someone he could swallow whole (umm, yes he lost that bet) and left with the nurse, everyone burst into applause as I sat down and burst into tears.