I just got done teaching a unit to my seniors over Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer, and now the students are composing essays before we move into spring break, which by the way, I simply CANNOT wait for. And yes, I did just knowingly end my sentence with a preposition.
Anywho, one student in particular has been showing concern for his grade, which I'm assuming is because his graduation is just over 2 months away. It's amazing to see how much the seniors start caring now that everything really counts. This student has had a high F for over a month but as of today, his total grade in the class is now a 61 percent. I have never seen anyone so excited to have achieved a D in my entire life. You would have thought that he won a car when he saw that little slip of paper on which "61%" was etched in purple ink. I felt happy for him, and I could tell that he was quite ecstatic, too. I communicated my excitement to him and told him that I was happy that he wasn't failing anymore. And then, I stopped and asked myself some questions. Why am I congratulating a student for getting a D when I know he can do so much better? Am I lowering the standards by making him feel that a D is okay? After I congratulated him, I added, "This is good, but you can do so much better. I have no doubt that you can get this up to a C by graduation if you try hard". It's strange for me to think about my personal feelings about the grade of D in comparison to some of my students' feelings. I remember when I was a sophomore in high school and I got a D in chemistry, which was the first and only D I have ever earned. I was absolutely horrified, embarassed, and disappointed in myself. Sometimes it's a challenge for me to understand that for some students, a D is something to celebrate.
In our Adolescent Literacy text, Yvette Jackson and Eric J. Cooper write that in order to build success with underachieving students the teacher must first begin with setting high expectations. My question to my readers is: How can teachers raise the expectations of students, while keeping those expectations at an attainable level? What are your feelings on lower achieving students accomplishing Ds? Is this good, or can they do better? Okay, so I asked more than one question, but I'm looking forward to helpful advice from my peers.
This is an interesting situation. I think you have to first start out the year with your expectations set. The more you get to know your students, the more familiar you will become with their individual abilities, strengths and weaknesses. After that, I think it becomes tricky, because you need to make the material challenging enough for the ones who exceed expectations, yet still attainable for the ones who may struggle. Also you have to ask yourself, does this student struggle with the material, or does he struggle with things like time management, organization, and motivation? If they are struggling with the material, than a student who at the beginning of a unit is achieving a D or C should improve even though the expectations are high, as long as you are using differentiated instruction that encompasses all the types of students you have in your classroom. But if it is the latter that the student struggles with, then you need to make your expectations clear at the very beginning. Instead of allowing he grade to sit at an F and look the other way, make calls home, talk to their seminar teachers and have them send the student to you during study hall, get them a personal folder that never leaves the classroom, inform them that it's their diploma, not yours! In the end you will have students who still think it is acceptable to slack off and possibly fail, and that is a life lesson that they will have to learn. Every student is capable of doing better. I don't expect outstanding papers from students who struggle, but I do expect to see clear evidence of effort and time put into the assignment. Show me that, then we can work on things like comma splices, misused words, and thesis statements. :)
ReplyDeleteWhat a coincidence it is you writing about struggling students being happy with a 'D' and me having watched bits and pieces of Lean on Me while putting my children down for a nap yesterday. It had been some time since I had seen that movie, but WOW what a performance by Morgan Freeman! All he had was struggling students who he knew could do much better and the movie did such a great job of showing how much of a battle that was.
ReplyDeleteOur battle in our classrooms with our students may not be to that extreme, however it is still a battle to get under achieving students to live up to their ability. What I have seen work in my classrooms, from my CT's, with such students is to contact their coach or parent. Seems to be the case for whatever reason that the athletes have a harder time living up to their potential in the classroom. Having them report back to their coach to show them they are ineligible to play is a huge motivator for them to get their work done. A call home has helped this too, but from what I've witnessed not near as much as contacting coaches.
Setting high expectations is a great thing to do as well because it shows that you care about the students and are afraid to challenge yourself to help them reach the expectations. Nikki was right; setting your expectations from the start when you have your own classroom will be key.
Tough love is a tricky line to walk in the land of motivation; some students may respond well and others may shy away and you will lose them. I am not saying that Morgan Freeman's example is the best way to go about things, but he did get results from his students. However, like you said you were happy for your student and at the same time challenged them to live up to their capabilities. Motivating students is a trial and error experiment, the variable is their effort and the constant is your caring.