I saw a principal today screaming at a student for not taking his test in the hallway. She threatened to take the student away, threatened to give him a 0, and damn near passed out from yelling so much. I pulled her aside and asked "why are you doing that?" She says "because he needs to do what I say!" I calmly explained to her that "this one is going to fail anyway." This student comes to class every day and does nothing. He is nice enough, but generally has a bad attitude. He tunes in occasionally and gets the information, but he doesn't care. Not yet.
"You can't just start yelling at the kids and trying to enforce rules and you haven't all year. He doesn't know what rules are, how they work, what they mean, or why they are important." I let this student control his own learning. We have a great relationship. I tell him he's smart, I give him alternative assignments, I've talked to whatever adult cares about him, and he still doesn't want to do anything. One day he may, and when he shows up wanting to learn, I teach him like there's no tomorrow. Why are we forcing him to stay in school? Sometimes we have to let the world educate these kids. They want to so bad, so why not let them realize that they don't?
DISD students should be responsible for their learning. This one is choosing not to, and I will oblige him.
"You can't just start yelling at the kids and trying to enforce rules and you haven't all year. He doesn't know what rules are, how they work, what they mean, or why they are important." I let this student control his own learning. We have a great relationship. I tell him he's smart, I give him alternative assignments, I've talked to whatever adult cares about him, and he still doesn't want to do anything. One day he may, and when he shows up wanting to learn, I teach him like there's no tomorrow. Why are we forcing him to stay in school? Sometimes we have to let the world educate these kids. They want to so bad, so why not let them realize that they don't?
DISD students should be responsible for their learning. This one is choosing not to, and I will oblige him.
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