I recently worked with a group of students who may be the most challenging I have faced in my career. They refuse to do their work, they use foul language, and they act like discipline does not matter. I had a student tell me that his work was finished, so I grabbed him a piece of paper so that he could begin the next assignment. He told me that he couldn't work because his group was not ready to work with him. I let him know that it was fine, and he could brainstorm ideas until the rest of his group was ready to help. He decided that it was a better option to toss the paper at me, refuse to work, and use some choice language. I'm not going to lie, I was mad. I wanted to lash out. I wanted to give him endless detentions. The worse part, he was one of seven kids with a similar attitude. The reality is, some students are a struggle, and we cannot expect to win with them every day.
When we are living waist deep in the mud, it is sometimes hard to see the positives in all students and remember that many of them come from situations we cannot understand. It can be exhausting and trying. With that being said, I thought I would take a moment to share what I have learned from having some of these students.
1. It is hard for a kid to care about school, when their basic needs are not being met.
-This sometime leads kids to lash out at their teachers. We have to remember not to take it personally. It is not about us.
2. Challenging students give us the opportunity to be creative and better teachers.
-I was teaching an economics class with several challenging students. We were learning about the difference between wants and needs and the importance of prioritizing where your money goes. My first few lessons were a complete dud. The kids tuned me out, laying their heads on the table or trying to talk over me. I knew they were not invested.
This led me to spend the next evening brainstorming a way to help them understand the key points of my lesson. I ended up creating the following scenario: A virus has escaped from a secret lab in California that turns its victims into zombies. You and your friends are the only people not affected by the virus. What will you need to survive the apocalypse? They had to plan their shelter out on paper and list the necessary supplies. At the end of class, we discussed how the items on their lists were the kinds of items that we need to prioritize in our budgets. My students were all engaged for the first time. Not only were they participating, but they enjoyed the lesson and learned the major point.
On another occasion, I could see that I was beginning to lose that group of kids. They put away their materials and said that they were done when there were still twenty minutes left in the period. The rest of my class was still busy, so I took the opportunity to sit with them. We sat and talked about their interests and what was going on in their lives. I found that their destructive energy died down, and we were able to continue on.
Now, I am sure that people can think of a million ways I could have dealt with these situations better, and that is exactly the point. When we work with challenging students, it forces us to get out of our comfort zones and to find new ways of delivering instruction. I have been researching ways to improve engagement and make my students want to learn a subject that will be very important in their lives. I am trying to make the content relevant and interesting for them. I think, overall, that makes my instruction better for everyone.
So the next time you face a challenging student in one of your classes, I hope you see it as an opportunity. Every challenge we face makes us better educators. I am still learning, growing and changing after eleven years of teaching. My students may be exhausting at times, but I am working toward meeting their needs. Who knows? Maybe we will be able to make a difference. It is worth a shot.
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