Every Student

It is amazing to see the different types of students that come into my classroom. Some are organized, some are blessed with wonderful talents in math, others write from their hearts. All students, however, are capable to achieving success in school and in life. Unfortunately, not all students reach their potential level of success.

I know that there are those that would tell me I am wrong, I hear it all the time. People tell me that not every student is going to be able to reach "benchmark" or be "on level". They seem to think that some students just can't successful. They are wrong.

I work with students that are learning English. Many of them come from low income homes. I hear things like, "Well, that student was in the ELT (English Language Transition) program" or "Wow, that is great for those students". I could write a whole post about how wrong using labels like that are, but that is not what I wanted to write about.

One of my newer students, who I will call Marie, has been having a hard time at school. She is quiet, which isn't a bad thing most of the time, but she was too quiet. It made me concerned for her. She was very withdrawn from the world around her. Not just shy, but closed off, to everyone. Her initial testing showed that she was going to have a hard time. Very little math skill, and she was reading 0 words per minute, which was about 20 words lower than most of my students, and 45 words per minute lower than the benchmark at the time.

She was put into a reading group that met in one of the portables outside. As I talked with the person supervising her reading group, I expressed my concern for her. The reply I got was something along the lines of, "She is tuned out. She just sits there, with a frown and is grumpy. She will not follow along and is not able to pass the assessments." After hearing this, I worried even more. This teacher had seemed to give up on her already. She passed Marie's problems off as something out of her control.

I asked for the reading groups to be changed. Marie was put into my classroom for reading. I took the first couple days in the small group setting to watch her more closely than I had been able to in a whole class group. She was one of those students that keep me constantly wondering, "What can I do to help? How do I reach this student?"

Unlike the other teacher's conclusion, I decided that this was not a trouble student, just a student with a troubled life. I began by trying to get her to break out of her protective shell. A rule in my class is that it is ok to make mistakes, as long as we fix it. It is not uncommon for me to stop in the middle of a lesson to discuss a mistake (by a student or by my self) and find a good way to fix it. I began to stop the reading group as they read and asked, "Wow, this is not good guys, I see a big mistake, but that's ok, as long as we fix it." They all waited for me to point out the word they had read incorrectly. I looked Marie in the face and said, "Someone here forgot to put on their smile." The kids laughed, but I kept a straight face. "We need to fix it." I told them. I then took a couple minute to show them how to "put on" a smile. Marie smiled.

This was a turning point for Marie. We would continue to stop if someone wasn't smiling. As Marie began to smile more, she also began to follow along with the group. She started to pay closer attention. Marie started to make progress.

Marie could easily have been passed off as a student that wasn't going to find success. She comes from a difficult home, she misses a lot of school. She gets into fights after school and doesn't do all of her homework; however, she is finding success. Marie is now reading over 20 words per minute. She is still behind, but she is now moving forward.

Every student can be successful, Every student can learn.