Sunday, October 14, 2012

Kicking and Screaming


Image courtesy of Ian Kahn

Some years ago when I was a classroom teacher, my Vice-Principal told me that he desperately needed my help. A student named Matt Martin (name changed to protect the guilty) was in serious trouble. Matt had burned his bridges with nearly every other teacher in the school and was now on a reduced program and earning just enough credits to graduate. I was Matt’s last resort to earn a grade 11 science credit and graduate that year. It seemed Matt had some issues. He could be angry, abusive, and at times even aggressive.  And those were his good days.

The VP was persuasive and I finally (somewhat reluctantly) agreed to have Matt join my Biology class.  The tone of the class changed instantly. Matt was everything he was promised to be and sometimes more.  The VP had offered to allow Matt to use his office if he got angry or frustrated and couldn’t cope with a class. There was a day or two when I suggested Matt pursue that option. But Matt kept coming back, day after day, sometimes working fairly well and cooperatively and sometimes not, and the school year (slowly) passed by.

June arrived and to many people’s surprise Matt graduated. Those of us who had taught him breathed a sigh of relief.  September was looking brighter already.

A few years later, I was shopping at a local big box retailer when a smiling young man walked up to me with a warm greeting and a big handshake. I recognized him immediately: it was Matt. He seemed genuinely glad to see me. He was working at this store and had been for some time. He was sorry, he said, for being such a pain (not his exact words). He also told me how much he appreciated the efforts of me, his other teachers and the VP in trying so hard to keep him in school and allowing him to graduate. Wow, what a transition in that young man’s personality! 

That event stands out as one of the best moments of my teaching career. It reinforced my belief that the troubled, difficult students are the ones that need teachers and other positive role models the most. The “good” kids, the ones that all teachers enjoy having in their classes, probably need us a lot less. If it came down to it, the bright, well behaved students could probably do a reasonable job of teaching themselves.  Matt clearly demonstrated that the students we have to drag through the system kicking and screaming are the ones who, in the end, may appreciate and need us the most. 

2 comments:

  1. Dean,
    I thoroughly enjoyed reading your blog. I have also encountered these situations. One that I remember was being hugged by a 'stranger' who turned out to be a student I'd taught at least 10 years previously. His memory was of nervously offering an answer in the classroom in front of his peers. (He loved to be seen and heard, but not when he was really trying.) One of his answers was right out in left field, but I found something in it that related to the concept. He remembered being so grateful that I had allowed him to feel that he could be successful. It seems that 'small' details to a teacher are not so small to the people we are working with.
    Thanks for sharing.

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    1. Thanks, Wendy. You're absolutely right. Our jobs are all about relationships and how we treat others. I've noticed how you respectfully treat your students and they pay you back in kind. If teachers (and administrators) can establish good relationships the rest can either be learned or is already there.

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