Do not pass go... Do not collect 200 dollars...

In my previous blog response to JT I mentioned the daunting task of trying to motivate those students you have that really don’t even want to be there. With each week that passes, I find myself learning more and more about my students while at the same time I am learning more about myself. My story is no different than many of you who chose to take up the mantle of teaching. Before I became a teacher this year, I was working tech support for the High School I now work at. For seven years I entered countless classrooms, saw countless moments of inspiration, and also the shortcomings of students. It was near the end of April that I was given notification that it was a good possibility that I could get the job that came open at the high school and just like many of you I said to myself, “I can do this. This is going to be a walk in the park…”

Looking back on that simple arrogant statement, I realized just how untrue that was. While I still struggle to keep my head above water, I am finding my second wind in this game called teaching. I am moving more towards the realm of efficiency than I was at nine weeks ago, and yes, I am really starting to BELIEVE I CAN do this. Now that the inspirational part of my message is out of the way, it’s time to move onto the dilemma.

While I love teaching and I feel I have been called to teach, I still cannot get over this feeling that I can do more. I have two students of my ninety plus on my roll that will receive grades in the sixty percentile. While my principal and other administration assure me that this is something to be proud about, I don’t think I can ever be “okay” with any student of mine that fails. I’ve contacted parents, made phone calls and countless emails and neither parent even bothered to return my calls or emails.

I looked deeper into these two kids situations and I find it ironic that while one fit the bill of environmental factors, the other one was exact opposite. One of the students lived in a broken home, and mom works at Subway, while the other student has parents that are well known in the community. The other student lives with both parents and even attends church often. Now I know that sometimes a student is just going to fall into that five percent category, but to me, it is a travesty. I have set my class up in a way that as long as you put forth SOME effort you are going to pass my class so when I have two students who simply refuse to even TRY to pass go or even TRY to collect 200 dollars it leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

So in closing I think what I am trying to say is how do you deal with those who simply do not care or lack any motivation to want to succeed? How do YOU reach them? How do you turn that light on in their heads to make them snap back to reality and actually care? Is there a magic word? A magic pill? An answer out there that can push these kids to motivation?

Mr. H.