Thursday, April 15, 2010
Nobody Wants to Fail
When students consistently don't do the work we ask them to do, it becomes increasingly difficult not to believe they want to fail. Today, after weeks of gentle reminders, offers of extra help session and showing Sam his grade summary, calling home, he asked if I was available after school to catch up on his work. And he came on his own volition! He now has a clear sense of what to do, how to do it and that he can move from a failing grade to passing. Over the past weeks there were times my frustration would show. It felt to me like he was resisting the work for no good reason. I almost gave up trying to offer more opportunities. But I have to remind myself that no student wants to fail, and that Sam's personal situation -living with his grandparents, among other things, means I cannot easily predict when he will be ready or willing to produce the work. I believe the offer must stand, the door must remain open, and the invitation must continue until such time as the student chooses to move forward.
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As educators, we have to remember that the level of priority which we place upon a certain assignment or course doesn't always hold the same value for our students. Like us, our students have complicated lives and demands upon their time of which our course(s) are only a small fraction. Possibly unlike us, our students may not have the same level of interest in our subject matter as we do or may have a whole host of barriers which prevent that student from placing the same priority on coursework. I think that while we need to hold onto the importance of learning a certain area of the curriculum, we also must acknowledge that every class has a mixture of interest levels from students. Our job is to help them see the importance and relevance of the subject to their learning and their own lives.
ReplyDeleteApplause, applause, applause for not giving up on Sam!! Are you the norm? Do most teachers continue to offer extra help and to provide those gentle reminders to kids like Sam for as long as is necessary? I would like to think so and you have inspired me to strive to be that teacher for the Sam's in my future classrooms. One of the messages I took from your blog is the importance of building a relationship with our students and an understanding of his/her personal situation. Sam clearly had challenges in his life and I know every single class I have the privilege to teach will undoubtedly have a Sam or two in it. I hope to build relationships with those students, to be aware of their situations and try to understand them before allowing frustration and my own subconscious beliefs to allow me to give up on them. I hope to have those students trust in me and in themselves and their ability and ultimately see them succeed. As you said - No student wants to fail. Thanks, Jennifer
ReplyDeleteCyrus said:
ReplyDeleteI feel very delighted to have read this blog entry; particularly, the sentence, <>, was greatly welcomed by my worldview making me think of what could be in the way of this idea to be materialized. Then it crossed my mind that the “tight timetable of the curriculum,” could be one significant obstacle.
To elaborate, what we have learned from the school of constructivism is simply that there are individual differences that should be taken into consideration. Learners have different learning styles and strategies; they are different in a number of ways including their cognitive and affective responses to instruction. The implication is that the teacher should be equipped with a number of teaching activities as well as strategies to respond to this reality.
At the level of practice, it is frequently the case that the constructivist teacher assigns pupils with interesting learner-centered tasks to be completed. So far so good; but (1) even highly-valued classroom activities and tasks need adequate time to be completed, and (2) this adequate time is different for different students. These two reasons explain why it is easy to observe happy as well as sad, frustrated faces in classrooms when the teacher announces that the task time is over.
Similarly, in a larger scale, it could be the case that the “curriculum timetable” turns out to be too fast for some students causing them to fail; they wouldn’t fail if and only if the educational schedule was a bit more relaxed for them to cope with successfully. Yes, these “more-slowly-developing” pupils are different from their other classmates, a fact that needs to be considered within the constructivist curriculum that still seems to be loyal to the “rigidly time-framed curriculum of the modernistic era.” In that case, they don’t have to fail any longer; nor they need to be pushed anymore. This way, we could be hopeful that the door remains open to them, too.
I can understand how Sam must have felt. I have memories of struggling in grade school, and of other teachers trying to help me. Mostly I remember hoping the situation would work itself out if everyone just left it alone and stopped giving me the attention.
ReplyDeleteI think it's important to understand that even as adults there are a lot of us that don't take responsibility for the things in our life that we know we should change. It is a big lesson to ask a child to understand a situation is wrong, that it needs to be fixed, and that they are the ones that are going to have to take the action to change it.
I know countless people in their 30's and beyond who struggle with the same situation, the same habits, and they learn to tolerate it instead of taking action.
It is very painful having to confront something that you are not good at, that you struggle with and constantly end up performing below expectations. We need to remember this as we face the Sams in our classroom. It's our job to help make them feel safe, and to guide them in the right direction, so that they learn to use the strength they already have to achieve.
Thank you Rob for not marginalizing Sam as a student of ignorance. As educators we must appreciate the struggles and environments in which our students come from. Through this realization we can support and encourage students to always, just simply, TRY their best.
ReplyDeleteAs a child with similar struggles, my homework was not always completed, my involvement in the classroom was minimal, and my desire to do my best was shot. I had other priorities on my plate such as, house duties, family issues, etc... and therefore my academic work suffered. Unfortunately, I did not have the same experience as Sam, where an educator persisted with my educational development, I was sort of left to the side and coasted throughout elementary school. It was in high school where my English teacher interpreted my disobedience as a way to escape classroom participation - her passion as a teacher brought me to where I am today.
What I am trying to say is, every child has equal potential and as educators we must commit ourselves in "pulling" them along the way, providing safe environments and inspirational education.
I'm glad you stuck with Sam. After learning about failure in students this semester, I have realized the importance of second, third... millionth chances that should be given to students. I too would have gotten extremely frustrated, but patience paid off and I'm delighted that Sam took your offer for extra help.
ReplyDeleteYou're right! Nobody wants to fail, but when they do, many fear that they will fail again and that debilitates them from doing better. I hope that as a teacher I will be able to comfort those and give them the chances that you gave Sam.