One Step to Victory

This is just an update on a previous post that described the frustrations of students that seemed to get overlooked and, as I previously put it “fall through the cracks”. It was so refreshing to see a student get the help they needed and deserved. I must say that my ST is one persistent lady. We kept discussing the situation and trying to come up with ways that we could improve the situation. The student was acting out and we had finally figured out why; with evidence. We couldn’t get help where it should have come from, so my amazing ST came up with a solution. For now the student is only receiving help for our class but perhaps when others see the improvements in grades, more steps will be taken to find an overall solution. I realize my descriptions of what is actually going on are vague and I do apologize.

After just a few days, we were seeing results. I was so excited to see that after grading one of this particular student’s activities, they had received the second highest grade in the class. Since I have been student teaching their grades have been always among one of the lowest. As I was recording grades this week, you would have thought I had won the KY lottery jackpot! My excitement was not because our suspicions were correct and not even that the solution was working.  I was excited for the student; realizing that this is just the beginning for them and their educational success.

A section of Love and Logic had so much relevance to me after this week. The authors wrote that “misbehavior has a positive purpose”. When I first read it, I understood the point but in the back of my head thinking, “if you say so”.  As a new teacher, I thought that there was nothing worse than encountering misbehavior when trying to capture/keep the attention of a class full of students. However, we can’t focus and get frustrated with the misbehavior. Just as a doctor can’t successfully treat symptoms unless they know what the underlying sickness is. As teachers we have to get to the heart of the issue, not continuously deal with the surface behavior. I get it now. So, I guess I just took a step, too!