"I think earth, if chosen instead of Heaven, will turn out to have been, all along, only a region in Hell: and earth, if put second to Heaven, to have been from the beginning a part of Heaven itself." -CS Lewis, The Great Divorce

9.29.2010

Thing #55: When students believe you

Today, I stayed after with some delinquent students who had missed two or more homework assignments. As part of their detention time, I went around and asked each student what had caused the breakdown in the homework completion. Most said that they didn't do much homework in middle school, and they hadn't developed a system for getting it done. I asked one kid, "What can I do for you to help you be successful?" His response was, "Could you sign my planner so when my mom checks it, she knows I wrote it down the right way?" Well, yes, I can. That was easy enough. Our conversation continued, however.

As we talked more, I assured him that teachers at Ocean Lakes wanted him to be successful, so they want to help. He shared with me that his middle school teachers didn't really answer questions, often saying, "figure it out." He said that he had learned not to ask questions. He had found that wasn't the case in high school, and he knew that I wasn't selling a bunch of bull (well, not in those words, exactly). What really got me was the way he looked at me like he believed I wanted to help him. He even shared that in math especially the teacher actually smiles - SMILES - when you ask a question, instead of shooting you down.

This comes from the same kid who said, "You explain things really well" last class. The smile on his face when I helped him to understand the story (and I didn't tell him anything, I just asked the questions so he could figure it out) made me realize how great my profession truly is. Even if it is just some days that I remember it.

It warms my heart to think that one kid - just this one - may actually believe that I have his success in mind when planning my day. I feel like I have succeeded in some small way if just he believes I (we) do my (our) job(s) to help the students.

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