Michael wore the same clothes every day for the first three weeks of school. When the other kids began to ________ that he was wearing the same pants and shirt day after day, Michael, a college preparatory high school freshman, became the ________ of ridicule and laughter. But there was ________ Michael could do. His mother simply couldn’t ________ to buy him new clothes.

Two of the kids were Antwan and Kristopher, big freshman football players. But over time, they ________ that their disparaging（毁谤的）words felt like bullying and seemed to be slowly breaking Michael’s ________. Something finally clicked.

Kristopher felt like he needed to do something. So he and Antwan ________ a plan. They went home and ________ through their own drawers and closets. The next day at school, they ________ Michael at their third-period class and asked him to come into the hall. Michael was ________ uncomfortable about being called out by the ________ boys.

Kristopher told him, “We’re in the same third period, and I ________ for laughing at you, and I want to give something to you to ________ it up.” He then ________ Michael a large bag. Inside were clean shirts and shorts, plus a brand-new pair of New Balance ________.

Michael was blown away. He was very happy, ________, completely. And Michael got much more than new clothes. He no longer sits ________ at lunch. Now he ________ with his new friends, Antwan and Kristopher.

Reflecting on the ________ Antwan and Kristopher called him into the hall, Michael said, “The best day of my ________ life, basically.”

Standing nervously behind the red curtain, I glanced out across the stage. A girl about my age sat at a piano. I could see her fingertips moving over the black and white keys in front of her. The beautiful melody was so relaxing, _________ my body tensed with anxiety.

My body _________ when the girl stood up from the bench. It was finally my turn. A part of me wanted to run home and _________ under my bed, but I knew I had chosen to _________. When the girl onstage walked toward me, I could hear my heart beating _________. The girl had a proud smile on her face and when she passed me, I heard her say “Good_________”!

“Well, here goes nothing.” I said to myself.

I stepped onto the _________ and walked slowly toward the piano. The bright lights nearly _________ me, making it difficult to see the audience. When I reached the _________, I automatically slid onto the bench into position. The sounds of whispering and people walking around gave way to complete silence. I stared at my __________ fingers and for a moment my mind went __________. Closing my eyes, I imagined the music sitting in front of me and tried to recall every tiny detail.

Finally, I took a deep breath and began to play Beethoven’s moonlight sonata (协奏曲). The rich tones of the piano rang out. One by one, each muscle in my body loosened and relaxed. I sat on the bench and my __________ danced over the row of black and white keys as if they had a mind of their own.

All the practice and __________ I put in for six months showed this was what my teacher was pushing for. I tried to __________ all the things she reminded me to do. “Keep your wrists up, relax your arms, don’t raise your shoulders…” I remembered feeling slightly annoyed hearing these things continuously but I never realized until now how it really __________.

When I reached the end of the piece the audience started __________. I rose from the bench and gave a deep bow. A proud smile __________ my face. Inside I felt __________ that it was over and that I had done so well. As the applause died down, I turned and walked to the other side of the stage. I saw a young boy standing nervously behind the red curtains staring __________ out at the stage. When I walked by, I passed to him the two words that were given to me for __________: Good luck!

Teachable moments don’t always happen in the classroom. Last week, a headmaster was _________ for his ability to look beyond the rules to give a student a lesson.

When Anthony Moore was sent to headmaster Jason Smith’s office for _________ to take off his hat, Smith knew something was wrong. The boy explained he was _________ by his terrible haircut.

“He didn’t say _________ out, but I feel like he just didn’t want to be _________ by his classmates,” Smith said. Rather than simply sending the boy home for breaking the school _________, Smith put forward a(n)_________. He’d fix the bad cut himself. He showed the photos of his son whose hair he _________ cut, the boy agreed.

Braving the heavy winter snows, Smith drove home to get his tools and then _________ back to fix the boy’s hair. __________ done, the boy made an apology for his behavior. And feeling better about himself, Moore was pleased enough to return to class. Since then, the boy frequently __________ the office to talk about his day.

“When a student is __________, we need to ask ourselves, ‘What happened to this child?’ instead of ‘What’s wrong with the child?’”, Smith said. “‘What need is the child trying to __________?’ And really, the future of our education __________ on that question.”

While it’s a question without easy answers, recognizing it when it’s being asked-as well as willing to take action to __________ a minor mistake into a teachable moment-is what education really means.