Empowerment

Personally, I think that "problem" students exist because teachers did not care enough to try to find out why these students behaved in "bad" ways. The stories in this last chapter showed how students can become empowered if one of his or her teachers had only showed an interest or care. I am married to one of the biggest trouble makers in Maine. My husband had many family issues which I will not describe for his own privacy, but had a teacher or anyone tried to find out why he behaved in the ways that he had, he may not have acted out in the ways that he had. He was told that he was the only student in Maine to have a high school give money to an alternative school to basically take him off their hands.

I need to always try to place myself in the position of the "troubled" or "problem" students in order to empower them. If I do not believe in them or support them, they will not do either of these things for themselves. The story about Leslie coming out by publishing a poem was powerful. Leslie knew that she was gay and was comfortable with this for herself, yet she could not take the next step by admitting this to her peers and essentially the school board. I thought it was a little strange that the teacher claimed to be confronting sexual politics herself, but I guess she was involved since she was pushing Leslie to publish her poem under her real name.

I understand that I am not always going to reach every student who needs it. But, if I at least try and put in the effort, then I have not completely lost. Even a little effort might make a student rethink their behaviors or life goals because someone is taking an interest and concern in their lives.

I now just realized that sometimes by trying to do what we think is right, we may be a little intrusive with students. When I was in middle school I did not eat lunch at school. Growing up in Pennsylvania, my family and I were accustomed to eating big breakfasts and big dinners. I did not get hungry at school, so I didn't eat. My Dad knew of this and didn't think it was a big deal. When I moved to Caribou, I was bothered on a daily basis about why I was not eating at school. I understand that they were worried about me (eating disorders are common in middle school girls), but I told them that I ate a big breakfast and did not like to eat at school. It made me feel ill. They harassed me to the point that I had to tell my Dad about it, and he wrote a letter to my principal about the matter. I was no longer bothered.

Remembering this makes me realize that although I might think a student has an issue or needs help, I might very well be jumping to conclusions. I need to listen to my students and trust his/her words until I see other signs of something wrong before reacting to a situation.