The Nurturer

I have no kids of my own yet. The 72 students that I see everyday and teach every day ARE my kids. I have seen them hate me, spite me, respect me, and love me. I've had them call me mom, give me hugs, and do work for me because they like me (whether it's for my class or another class). I don't know where the breakdown is, what the reason it that so many teachers have a hard time respecting the same students that I do. Yes, they are a handful, they are challenging, they are sometimes mean, but that's why I teach them the way I do - with a lot of love.

Growing up, my parents always told me that I could do anything that I wanted to as long as I put my mind to it. This is what is missing from so many of my kids lives. So many teachers discount my kids as unable, that they don't care, as passive. I beg to differ with these teachers. They can and will work hard. They need to be shown that you care, and they need to be loved. It's a hard world to be brought into when you are not taught better from the society around you, but I can be that influence, that nurturer who tells them, "you CAN do anything that you want."

I believe that my parents were hard on my brother and I for a good reason; they showed us responsibility and respect through their tough love. This is why I am not only loving towards my students, but I am extremely hard on them when it comes to grades and their own responsibility. As I sat through a professional development session today, I heard so many colleagues say that they can't get students to turn in homework, but if they give them a zero for all of the missing assignments, they'd fail. I say GOOD! Let them fail! They need to understand that without doing the work and putting in the effort, they will not pass. From last quarter to this quarter, I see a definite improvement in the return on work that is due. I have so many more students coming to me to ask, "Can I get the work I'm missing?" "What can I do to boost my grade?" When it came to the end of the quarter, they were amazed that they had an F. They saw the lack of responsibility and how it affected them. Through that realization, the number of students who are failing has been cut in half. I am even harder on the students this quarter. I used to give ten pages of make-up work to them, kindly letting them make up work from two months before. This quarter, they have five days, and that's it! They feel the responsibility through the tough love that I bear down on them. Some of the students that I am the hardest on have improved the most!

At the end of the day, I say goodbye to my kids, I get a few hugs from them, and I remind them as they run to the bus to remember their responsibilities for the night. Maybe they have a hard time remembering their work, or maybe they have a lot to deal with at home, but it's not that they "don't care," so much as they need someone to tell them they are brilliant! They may not meet society's view of brilliant, but I see the potential, and I make sure that they know I have all the faith in the world in the ability of each and every one of my students.