Real Life Students

I'm a little behind, so I just had my first day in the field on Monday...and let me tell you it was an experience!

In the first period class there was a boy who seemed to be a little more tired than the other students. Even though he answered when called on and even read aloud during a portion of the class, for the most part he had his head in his hands or on the desk. Of course, since it was 8 in the morning, I chalked this up to a bad case of the Monday's.

Well, at the end of the day this same day the student came back to talk to my co-op. The first thing he did was apologize for being so out of it that morning. My co-op asked if there was something wrong, and the student replied with the following: His mom was just diagnosed with breast cancer a week ago and just went through extensive surgery. He also found out that his brother and sister (both soldiers overseas) may not be able to come home for the holidays anymore.

When the student left, my co-op told me that this particular student was just admitted into the c-level program because of his low PSSA scores. Let's add that to his list of worries...

It was just such an eye-opener... Here's a student that has so much going on in his personal life, who could blame him for being a little pre-occupied? It's such a shame that this student is being pushed through this system of standards when those who create these tests don't take into consideration the outside circumstances. He is in no way a poor student -- he's engaged, motivated and hardworking... He just happens to get lower test scores.

I think one of my biggest challenges as a teacher will be to find a way to meet these students where they are, while still trying to uphold the state standards.

In other words....AHHHHHHHHH!!