Читать книгу Start With the Heart - Michelle L. Trujillo - Страница 17

Case in point, last year I received a letter from a former student who had struggled throughout middle and high school. In fact, she even dropped out for several months prior to enrolling in our school. She wrote to our staff after receiving her acceptance letter to a four-year university. Her letter is a testimony to the power of connection, support, and encouragement in the school system (see Figure 1.1).

Figure 1.1

What Kat didn’t say in her letter is that we taught her using our most engaging instructional strategies. We created academic and behavioral interventions—this was before they had official names as multi-tiered systems of support. We pushed her to achieve academically and helped her develop her decision-making skills. But, more important, what we did that made a sustainable difference in Kat’s life was to take the time to see past her addiction and behind her truancy and her intermittent apathy, in order to believe in her potential. Sometimes, as educators, we forget the importance of this mentality as a crucial element of preparing our students to be college and career ready.

When I was a principal, I was blessed to work with a multitude of talented teachers. One such teacher, Ashlee Nicoll, was a master of the “meeting students where they are” mentality in order to help them see their potential. Mrs. Nicoll’s reflection below is evidence of the positive difference this mentality can make in the life of a child:

Defeated, angry, deflated. These are the words that described Charlie the first time I met him. It was the summer of 2016 and Charlie was ready to drop out of high school and throw his life away. “I’ll get some job and just work every day until I die.” His outlook on what his life would be was dismal. He didn’t believe success and accomplishment were things he could achieve in life; he didn’t believe he deserved to have good things happen to him because his life up until this point had been a journey of pain, loss, and disappointment. Charlie had always struggled in school and had yet to feel any level of success when it came to school or life. The moment I met Charlie, I knew he had the potential to be something amazing, but I also knew he had no idea he had this potential inside of him. This is where our journey began. I had to get Charlie to see himself the way I saw him, but to do this he had to trust me. I had to gain his trust, so that he could start to see himself through a different lens. He had to believe that he deserved success. To say he didn’t trust me in the beginning would be a vast understatement. He was guarded and detached. He tested me with every opportunity he was given. Charlie had very few adults in his life that actually followed through on promises and let their actions speak rather than just words. I told Charlie I would never give up on him and I meant that to my very core. Throughout the years together, Charlie began to see that I meant what I said and I did what I promised. On some days, he would confide in me and give me insights into his life and mindset; he began to see that his past did not define him and that I could accept him for who he was without judgment or ridicule. On other days, he would push me away, shut me down, and close me out, yet my expectations for him never changed and he began to thrive on that consistency of high expectations and unconditional love. Every day was a new day, so no matter how we ended our day together yesterday, I welcomed him with a smile and appreciation. Slowly, Charlie began to experience small amounts of success; finishing an essay, creating a resume. Then the success became bigger; earning credits, having employers calling him to offer him jobs and, ultimately, Charlie graduated from high school in the spring of 2018. Charlie achieved something that two years prior was unattainable, a pipe dream. Today is a new day, and today Charlie can be described as confident, capable, changed.