Skip to main content

Finding the Connections


Don’t I hate it when I back a student into a corner unintentionally! I did it today with one of my 8th graders. He didn’t do his homework and was very nonchalant about it. I asked him (loud enough for the whole class to hear unfortunately) what his football coach would think about that. Of course, he started telling me he didn’t know about the assignment. Not letting it drop, I disagreed with him. I argued with a student. UGH! I know better than that! My rapport with this student has been very positive. All it took for me to screw it up was showing my disappointment, no make that frustration, that he did not do his homework. When I went to apologize to him immediately after I realized what I did, he turned his head and ignored me. At that point, I walked away. As class went on, I treated him like I did every other day. By the end of class, he had come around and approached me about getting his homework done.  With any luck, it will come in tomorrow.

I have two classes of students who are at the lower end of the spectrum and have not been successful in school for a multitude of reasons. You know the ones. These are the kids who avoid anything academic as much as possible. No surprise that the majority of them are boys. I need to find ways for them to be successful in their reading and writing. This is difficult to do when several of them cannot read past a second grade level. What use do they have of the foolish things we learn in school such as plot? That is my challenge - to find a way to engage them. I know inquiry is the way to go, yet I have yet to come up with the right question to get it started. Therefore, we do the curriculum in a unique way. I want to find a way to make the curriculum relevant to the world around them. In the 8th grade that means writing letters to the principal asking for recess, new football helmets, and uniforms. Who knows if they will get anything they want, but at least the students get a voice. In the meantime, I have not found the magic for the 7th grade yet. I need to find out what my non-readers are into. Slowly, but surely that information is coming out.

I have a manager for my team. He is from the self-contained room; self-contained because of his behavior. The type of kid I taught for the first six years of my teaching career. I approached him when an adult suggested it to me. He is all about helping out. I am all about working with him. When I told my team who it was, they all looked a bit surprised. I imagine it is due to his reputation – a gang member and a trouble-maker. Yet, I hear he is a good kid who has made some bad choices. I am going to give him the opportunity to make some good choices. God knows I could use the help.

I work with a group of such amazing kids! I know why it was time for me to leave my last school. We need each other.


Comments

  1. You are the best thing for these kids! If anyone can reach them it is you! Remember, Reading Don't Fix No Chevy's!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

WABDR: Section 1

Section 1  We end at the beginning  Does it feel like this trip will never end? Epic adventures tend to last a bit longer than just an average one. So….on with our tale.  We got our bikes all packed up and continued over White Pass. The first time we went over it, it was a cloudy day. Thus, the visibility of the mountains was not much. I was expecting the same on our return trip to Packwood. Therefore, it took my breath away when I saw the mountain off in the distance for the first time. The beauty was so overwhelming, I teared up.    I continued to watch the mountain until I could see it no more. Soon we were in Packwood. Back where we started. After a quick breakfast at the local coffee shop, we were on our way. I may have taken a few minutes to ride the big bike first… Not too long though, because someone was ready to get moving.  Jennifer had some friends that were camping at Walupt Lake, which is right on the trail for Sectio...

Aging sucks.....or does it?

Upon first thought, watching a parent age sucks. Unnoticeable at first. A bit of a stoop, some creaking in the knees, whitening of the hair. The doctor’s visits begin, as do the pills One for high blood pressure, another to thin the blood, and a handful of vitamins to top it off. The signs are there, but it is easier to see him as he has always been. My father, a pillar of strength. Until my pillar was knocked off-kilter. A simple surgery and the mortality of my father looked me square in the eye when the drugs took hold of his brain. Amidst his fidgeting and confusion, I realized…AGING SUCKS! And then….enlightenment dawned upon me….AGING IS BEAUTIFUL Wrinkles tell of smiles while silver hair speaks a life of memories. Knees creaky after years of kneeling in prayer, offering up a lap, and climbing up the stairs for one more kiss goodnight. Almost forty-eight years of memories nestled in my heart. Memories of my father. Taking us to church each Sunday Building and fixing ...

WABDR, Section 2: Part 1

WE GET ON THE TRAIL, finally WABDR Section 2 It has taken forever to get to this part of the story, but we are finally here! The day we go off-road. But first, we go into Packwood in hopes of getting a first-aid kit that we realized we forgot the previous evening. No first-aid kit was to be found. Mostly because the one store that we figured would have one was closed. If you read the second installment of this story, you already know our response. (For those who didn’t read it, we dubbed this the F-it Trip.) We would figure it out as we went along. The way we handled it was to have a good breakfast and charge up our intercom system. As we rode down the road to get to the trail with our music playing, I felt as if we were straight out of Easy Rider... except much more badass. After all, we were going off-road. Pretty sure the big, wide, bug-catching grin on my face didn’t look so tough though.  White Pass went on for awhile. The clouds looked a bit ominous. I paid i...