There are many thoughts just sitting in my head that I have never found the right words to verbalize. They only take on life in the spoken world when some very intelligent person expresses a thought of their own that in some way parallels mine, and in doing so, provides me with the language I was lacking. If you couldn't guess, that happened to me this week. Thanks to my supervisor, I can now express to those of you who read this blog one of my greatest concerns when it comes to education...
This entry focuses on students who lose their sparkle.
What is a student's sparkle? Many of you can probably guess. It is that enthusiasm to learn, that natural curiosity, that eagerness to explore and discover which every child possesses at birth. However, somewhere along the line, many sparkles lose their refractive power. They fade into dull gray dots of apathy.
I have many dull gray dots amongst the juniors that I teach. The way they drag their feet into class, slump down in their chairs, and immediately put their heads down causes me to wonder, when did they loose it? When did they lose their sparkle?
Did it happen in a moment? The first time a teacher shot down a question? The first time someone said they were stupid? The first time they got called a trouble maker? The first time they were compared to a "more intelligent" child?
Or did it happen gradually? Was it simply the accumulation of multiple academic and life frustrations that after 17 years just forced their bright and beautiful sparkle into a dull submission? Either way, my apathetic students are my greatest frustration and my deepest heartbreak.
Which leads me to the question that has driven my academic pursuits since I became interested in education...
Can you re-spark a sparkle?
Can you undo 13+ years of academic discouragement? Can you fight unfortunate life circumstances and devastating events that have nothing to do with school, but that do gut wrenching damage to children?
This post has a lot of questions and not many answers. Personally, I would like to think you can re-ignite something in the mind of an apathetic student. Especially if you are willing dedicate yourself to doing so. With time and patience, sometimes you can get the blood flowing through a student's scholarly vein again. The question is, how? Showing students you believe in their abilities is great. Setting high standards for all of your pupils is admirable. Going the extra mile to ensure they understand the concepts you are teaching by staying after school, catering to their individual learning needs, and getting to know them personally is extraordinary.
But what about the ones that are so far gone that even all of that is not enough? Do you just let all lingering hints of a glimmer die? How do we as teachers reach the students who lost their sparkle so long ago, they have forgotten what it feels like to care?
Please let me know what you think. I am really interested in other people's insights and experiences with this particular challenge.
This entry focuses on students who lose their sparkle.
What is a student's sparkle? Many of you can probably guess. It is that enthusiasm to learn, that natural curiosity, that eagerness to explore and discover which every child possesses at birth. However, somewhere along the line, many sparkles lose their refractive power. They fade into dull gray dots of apathy.
I have many dull gray dots amongst the juniors that I teach. The way they drag their feet into class, slump down in their chairs, and immediately put their heads down causes me to wonder, when did they loose it? When did they lose their sparkle?
Did it happen in a moment? The first time a teacher shot down a question? The first time someone said they were stupid? The first time they got called a trouble maker? The first time they were compared to a "more intelligent" child?
Or did it happen gradually? Was it simply the accumulation of multiple academic and life frustrations that after 17 years just forced their bright and beautiful sparkle into a dull submission? Either way, my apathetic students are my greatest frustration and my deepest heartbreak.
Which leads me to the question that has driven my academic pursuits since I became interested in education...
Can you re-spark a sparkle?
Can you undo 13+ years of academic discouragement? Can you fight unfortunate life circumstances and devastating events that have nothing to do with school, but that do gut wrenching damage to children?
This post has a lot of questions and not many answers. Personally, I would like to think you can re-ignite something in the mind of an apathetic student. Especially if you are willing dedicate yourself to doing so. With time and patience, sometimes you can get the blood flowing through a student's scholarly vein again. The question is, how? Showing students you believe in their abilities is great. Setting high standards for all of your pupils is admirable. Going the extra mile to ensure they understand the concepts you are teaching by staying after school, catering to their individual learning needs, and getting to know them personally is extraordinary.
But what about the ones that are so far gone that even all of that is not enough? Do you just let all lingering hints of a glimmer die? How do we as teachers reach the students who lost their sparkle so long ago, they have forgotten what it feels like to care?
Please let me know what you think. I am really interested in other people's insights and experiences with this particular challenge.
i don't have any insight about how to re-kindle that spark in students, but i've learned something about how to change people's behavior. (i'm sure you know all this). and that is to change someone's attitude and behavior, that person has to see a reason or need, or motivation to change. i think that is the real trick of being a teacher-to help students find that need, that hunger. all of the things that were mentioned in the post were great, going the extra mile for the student, and i think what counts is doing all of those things not just for the sake of the student learning the material, but to get the student to see a want to change, and a want for more. my best guess would be to use some magic. teacher's magic. something that sinks into their minds, and convinces them that they need this and want it. maybe it's the teacher's relentless commitment, or personality, or the trust students have for them, or the impressive knowledge teachers have, etc. just something that shows students something they haven't seen or felt in a long time. maybe for those lucky students, learning can become a safe place for adventures again. and even though in the end, there's only so much teachers can do- it's not a one-way street, after-all, and no amount of magic can change an unwilling mind- teachers never give up hope. because teachers in the end can do the most good when they can reach those students.
ReplyDeleteHans is right on. Erin, sometimes the only thing a teacher can be sure of is that he or she has not lost that sparkle! Most of the time teachers don't even know when they've re-lit someone else's sparkle for living and learning. That can be one of the most frustrating things about the job! Then, out of the blue, one of those light-less youngsters seems to brighten up, or does something to let you know that you have passed on a bit of the sparkle you carry. The trick is not to lose your own sparkle, to let it be dampened and darkened with your frustration or by they crushing darkness with which some students contend on a daily basis. Do you feel like smiling every day? Do you want to greet every student with a pleasant "hello"? Do you have five minutes to give every time someone needs it? Hardly. Do teachers do it anyway? The good ones do. Day after day, year after year, whether they're sick or sick at heart or losing hope themselves. If you want students to have the hope of sparkling on their own, sometimes all you can do is just keep sparkling yourself. Shine on, my friend. Shine on.
ReplyDeleteDr. Cox, thank you for your sparkle. It is part of the reason for mine :)
ReplyDelete