Most teenagers are fragile. Their self-image is often built on a shaky foundation and altogether too often hinges on things their friends, parents, teachers, and other might say by chance.
I am thoroughly enjoying teaching at Lynn English–teaching is fun for me again, in a way that it wasn’t last year. One of the things I really like and appreciate about LEHS is its consistency–administrators support the teachers 100% and enforce the rules in a consistent, non-personalized manner that creates an environment that is conducive to teaching and learning.
However, the one down side is that the kids spend a lot of their time being yelled at/lectured to, and being continually reminded of their level of blame when things go badly for them. Making sure they understand their role in their situation is important, but I think it can be done in a way that allows them to preserve more of their self-esteem.
A couple of things I’m doing to try to help move things in a more positive direction:
I have corridor patrol duty during homeroom. I say “Good morning” to everyone who comes by–students, teachers, administrators, etc. Most of the teachers and a few of the students say “Good morning” back. I believe that everyone should have at least one person say “Good morning” to them every day, and mean it, without any strings attached.
When my students put themselves down in class (usually because they struggle with math), I work with them until they succeed in understanding whatever it is that they’re having trouble with at that moment, and then I tell them to say “I’m smarter than I give myself credit for.” In fact, I insist that they keep trying until they can look me in the eyes when they’re saying it, and say it in a way that sounds convincing. Some of them do take several tries before they’re able to say it convincingly, but all of them seem to appreciate my taking the time and effort to get them to say it, and several of them commented that they should really believe it more than they actually do.
Once they start to feel that I believe in them, and that my trust in their ability to succeed is not misplaced, the statement starts to become a self-fulfilling prophecy. At the end of the year, many of them will join the chorus of former students who say, “This was one of my hardest classes, but I loved it and it was one of the classes I got the best grades in.”
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