*This is part two in my story about getting my challenging students to learn.
I was a few weeks into my first time teaching middle school. I had finally managed to get my students to listen, but now I had to get them to learn.
I gave up my conference period every day the following week, even though I was incredibly behind, because what was the point of making plans if I couldn’t teach? I began approaching some of my students before and after school to ask how they were doing, and if there was anything that I could do to help them in my class. Sometimes, I would list positive things that I had seen them do, or described ways they had impressed me with their knowledge and understanding. Just taking a moment to talk to these students changed the way they behaved once they were in my class again. They could see that I cared about what was going on in their lives, and that I would take the time to talk to them.
I started visiting students that were in all-day school suspension. In-school suspension students were kept in a small portable in the back of the school, where they often sat staring, with not enough work to occupy them for the entire day. The same students who would ignore me in class, actually brightened at the sight of me in detention. They sat up straight and nodded as I explained everything they had missed in class. I would thank them for their attention and tell them I was looking forward to their return. Those students were not only surprised to see me coming out to that back portable, they were surprised to hear me say that I wanted them back in my class. I knew then, that many of them were rejecting teachers and their education because they thought we didn’t care whether they were in class or not. They didn’t think they had anything to contribute; they didn’t believe they could be good students. I decided to find ways to get them involved so they would feel like they were part of the class, and so they could see what they were capable of.
At my husband’s suggestion, I brought back an activity called the guest journal that I had used in the past to encourage my ESL students to write and speak more often. This time, my students surprised me with their excitement to lead the class in writing and sharing their stories. Instead of having my students just write persuasive essays, I gave them video cameras so they could film their arguments in creative ways to present digitally to the class. We wrote letters to Ben Saenz, to tell him how much his novel “He Forgot to Say Goodbye” had meant to us. When we read “The Diary of Anne Frank”, my students researched and wrote about many of the families that had been lost during the Holocaust; we posted their stories in the hall. We took pictures of ourselves outside and pasted them alongside the historical photos, along with a statement that we had the ability to create our own history—a history without hate. My students were finally excited about reading and writing, and having a choice in what they learned. It was wonderful to see their creativity and enthusiasm finally emerging, it was wonderful to see them enjoying school.
Though things were definitely better for me than when I first started, maintaining order in my classes turned out to be harder than I expected. I have always felt frustrated by movies that portray teachers that come up with a easy answer that allows them to get through to their students for the rest of the year. That is not the reality, I’m afraid. When students are living in poor, unstable environments, the littlest set back would cause them to shut down completely—and when it did, I would have to start all over. Through talking to my students I learned what life was like for so many of them, and it made me wonder how we can expect our students to learn when their lives are so tumultuous outside of our classroom.
One of my students, who had made tremendous progress at the beginning of the year, was suspended after flinging his lunch at an administrator in the cafeteria. We found out later, that that morning his father had called him from jail, to let him know that he had been arrested, and that he wouldn’t see him for a while. Another student of mine, was exhausted every day from wandering the streets every night, which he did to avoid his stepfather. Another student was so unhappy at home, that she stopped eating entirely to cope with the pain she was feeling. These students were good children that wanted to be good students, but with no resources of support, they would repeatedly shut down or act out.
Many of us teachers were going through the same repetitive cycle to help these students. We called home and conferenced with students outside of class; we set up meetings with parents and counselors. We held block meetings with students to try to come up with a plan to help them be successful in school. Our work was constant and unrelenting, the only reward was to be able to teach productively for a few days until we would have to start the cycle again.
The process I had to go through every week just to teach my class was exhausting, but I still felt that it was worth it. All of those students were worth it. I went from believing that every one of those students hated me, to seeing how much they needed me. The student that smirked at my handshake on the first day, later told me that my class was his favorite, almost every day for the rest of the year. One young man who hardly ever spoke in class. wrote me a letter at the end of the year, thanking me for never giving up on them, and for reading to them almost every day—he liked listening to stories. Another one of my students thanked me for starting a club for her and her friends, and for showing them that writing is fun. And that student who had a sword fight behind my desk and saw me cry; he never told a soul that I broke down, not one. I will never forget that kindness. Those kids gave me the hardest year of my life. But, I would go back and do it all over again. I learned from them too.
I think this is the part of my essay, where I say that there is no secret to having good classroom management. But, there is a secret, it’s just not a very easy one. The secret to being able to run any classroom is to never give up on the students. The secret is to do anything you can possibly do, in order to get those students to learn. To say that the students are terrible, to say that they are too behind, to say that they just don’t care, is very easy. It is very hard to love students that are pushing you away. But, if you keep reaching out to those students, if you keep telling them how much you care, I think you’ll discover how much you really do.
Vivian Maguire is an English Teacher in El Paso, TX. Follow her on Twitter at @Maguireteacher.
