Archive for the ‘Student Achievement’ Category
#24) Bad kids … our fault or theirs?
There are no bad students.
That bears repeating – there are no bad students.
I am not an idealist. Nor am I an overzealous optimist. I am someone who feverously believes in the power of educators. Moreover, I know the key to having a classroom without bad kids is determined by an educator’s willingness to grow outside of their comfort zone.
Indeed, there are students who bring emotional, behavioral and other challenges to school. Their home or lack of contributes heavily to the raw material that shows up at our classroom doors. As educators we have the knowledge and ability to shape that raw material into a more developed, better prepared student.
However, in many circumstances it comes down to a choice:
a) Will we choose to adjust our instructional techniques, adapt some new strategies and be willing to demonstrate the patience needed for those things to show results; or
b) Will we spread blame, admonish the child for not adjusting to our rigid practices and give up on this opportunity to grow personally and professionally?
I once supervised a teacher who took great pride in the organization of her classroom and the performance of her students. While she did work hard in cultivating that learning environment, one important factor should be noted – her class was assigned the top 25 achievers from the previous year.
We had a special needs student who was doing poorly in another class. He had even once extended a visit to the bathroom as an opportunity to leave the building. When we transferred him into the high achievers class, it was with the expectation that the structure of the room would be to his benefit.
Amazingly, it was.
He responded well to the structure of her class. He looked forward to coming to school. Although he had needs that impaired his performance, his effort skyrocketed and began to have a positive impact on his work.
The tragedy was that the teacher hated it. Maybe she hated me for the transfer, I cannot say. I can say her perception prevented her from seeing the strides that the student was making. She complained about him not sitting in his seat. I visited the class several times and staying seated was not his preference. He stood at his desk in the rear of the class and attempted to do the assignment. During each of my visits he was on task, sans the comfort of his seat.
My perspective was that this student had disliked school and was a proven risk to leave the grounds. Now he is on task, excited to come to class and needs redirection to sit in his seat. I saw it as significant progress.
Progress that was aborted when upon returning from the resource room a scenario ensued during which the teacher made a comment about the child having been retained. He had been retained in kindergarten but really had no perception that he had failed. Her callous comment in front of the class sent a wrecking ball through his progress.
Did the student present challenges? Yes. Did he require the teacher to change her instruction? Not really, his IEP required his instruction to come in the resource room where he spent over half of his day. Did he require her to change her perception? Yes and that is where she failed. Her stubborn position snuffed out the joy of learning for that child. His parents and future teachers must repair the damage. While we are left to ponder how often does situation such as this play out in our schools and how have we contributed to hurting a child’s potential?