The 100%

We have all been there. That moment you realize you have lost something important. Perhaps your school keys decided to take a slide down your car and found a cozy spot under your seat. Maybe your wallet is snuggling up to the gum wrapper in your coat pocket at home. But what about a student, have you ever lost a student?

I have and am not proud of it. It’s the nasty ugly truth- but a reality.

One of the students I lost was a product of abusive parents that lived less then paycheck to paycheck spending as little as possible to help make ends meet. He always had a frozen corn dog and a fruit cup for lunch. They refused to apply for Free and Reduced Lunch and refused any kind of assisted living programs.

The student and I were talking one day because he just didn’t want to do any work because the weight of the world was barring down on him. My empathetic side came out and wanted to do whatever I could to help save his beautiful heart. I said, “It’s okay take a break from learning. Relax and come back to us when you are ready.” It is that moment I lost him and several other students. I was never able get him back in a good place to learn. Many other student saw how he was “avoiding” the learning and they followed in his foot steps. He never pulled it back together.

The moment I gave that break for him is the moment I failed him. I soon fell in a habit, letting his work ethic slide because of his rough life. It was okay if he missed a few assignments because of his homelife. Don’t worry about your grade, take care of yourself. Keep your hoodie on because it makes you feel comfortable and safe. I was trying to do good by giving a kid a break in life. He soon began refusing simple work and he started to isolate him self from peers. Eventually, he began to start fights and finding ways to gets out of my classroom. By the end of the year he wanted nothing to do with me despite my perception of a positive relationship.

At this point, people are often quick to blame students rather than themselves, but I lost a student that year. When that small moment happened there was a shift in power. When I said to him, “take a break from learning,” what I really communicated to him nonverbally is that your learning is not important, that your work would not help him out in his life. I lowered the bar for achievement in which he could have gained so much in terms of skills. As a class, I set the bar low for my students to achieve. Scores also showed they didn’t grow just because I said life’s too hard, take a break.

Life is hard, so what? Do we get a break from our jobs because we just had a fight with our significant other? Does our job stop when we are in an abusive relation? Jobs expect us to continue our work given the circumstances in our lives.

Students come from various backgrounds: parents are getting divorced, they just lost their home, or older brother is going to jail. Maybe they are here as refugees. Why use any of those to excuse work? We can use those as strengths to reach the bar we set for students.

Building a culture of excellence is hard work. It takes 100% all 100% of the time. 100% of kids engaged in learning 100% of the time. No exceptions. If we set the bar high enough and keep it there, we can get students back on track. If I simply had said that this will help you out in the long run, struggle through it. Stay with us and learn. That message says a lot nonverbally. I care about your learning and education will provide you a better future.

I’m not saying that emotional health is not important, I would argue the rather. Emotional health is far more important than academics, but we sometimes we cave into the behavioral needs of students far greater than we need to at the moment. Students need strategies to manage themselves, but it should not be at the cost of their learning.

100% of students engaged, 100% of the time. It’s hard work, but students deserve it.