I'm going to be honest here...there are students that I "write off" sometimes in my classroom. Because it's SO difficult to help every single one (as much as I really want to), there are some kids that don't want to be helped and some that, as horrible as it seems, I don't have the time to help. Their issues are SO great that I just cannot help them.
Some of my students do not speak English and it has always angered me that these kids are placed in my classroom and expected to "absorb" the language AND the content I'm trying to teach. Our schools are basically setting them up for failure. And with 30+ students in my room, I often do fail them as their teacher. This year, I made it a personal goal to try to help the non-english speakers more than I have in the past.
I have one student who is SO sweet and SO bright, but she just doesn't understand me. But even when I ask her if she needs help, she refuses it. Normally, if this was a student who spoke English, I would have already called her parent or sent a letter home, but when mom & dad do not speak English either, that is very difficult. Last year, I'm not gonna lie, I would have just written her off as a girl that would probably drop out and start a family at a young age. But today, I decided to get her guidance counselor, a translator, and her mother together in a room to hash this out. What an amazing decision! This young lady told me in that meeting, that it was her desire to graduate high school so she could be a good influence on her younger family members. She wanted to be their role model and finally do something that none of her family members had ever done!
What if I had really written her off? What if I had let her continue to struggle on her own? What about the other students I've had in the past who were just "too difficult" for me to deal with--what was their hidden potential that I wrote off as laziness?
Aren't you glad that God does not write us off--that He leaves the 99 to help the 1? Aren't you glad that when you seem out of control and beyond help, He continues to be there, working behind the scenes on your behalf and awaiting your return to Him? Who in your life needs the benefit of the doubt or a helping hand? Are we truly EVER too busy to help a neighbor?
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I read once that 25 percent of school budgets goes to the bottom one percent of learners who will never evidence a return on the public's investment. That proves money isn't the answer to the crying need of our schools.
ReplyDeleteThe reality is that it is always the teacher upon whom the ultimate responsibility falls for the success or failure of her students. Oh, yes, the students and their parents are responsible, but it is only the teacher with compassion for children and a a sense of mission from God who will always do whatever she can to make the education system work for every potential scholar who crosses the threshhold of her classroom.
Keep making each child important, Rachel. Your reward -- though not in money or in recognition -- will be great.