A little positivity, for a change

Last night, I had dinner with a few TFA teachers and a couple accountants from PWC (where my friend’s wife works). The four teachers were sharing our crazy stories, and then one of the accountants asked us if there are any good parts to teaching.

That got the four of us thinking, and realizing that for every negative story that we tell (or at least for every 5 negative stories), there’s also a good story that goes untold. It’s so easy to forget little victories, like Frank actually responding to me instead of giving me a blank look, when kids are practically humping each other in class, walking out, and refusing point-blank to go down to the office.

So today I want to share a positive story. George was one of those kids that started out the year not doing ANY work. He’d either copy, or be lazy and just put his head down. He even tried to slip out of class a couple of times. He wasn’t disrespectful – he liked me, he just didn’t like or care for school.

Then (of course), he started failing. Then one day his great grandmother (side note: she was only about 65 years old…yeah, do the math, just like I did) came in for a school conference, where she told us about how George really wanted to get into a military school because he thinks it won’t be like regular school, but he won’t be able to get in if he doesn’t pass at Roosevelt. She explains that she’s raised him since he was young, and he gets everything he wants at his aunt’s house – his own computer, his own room, etc…but she has essentially given up on the boy’s lack of motivation.

Then, George starts to change. For our assessment before winter break, he was really really trying. I mean, annotating that text like nobody’s business, eliminating answers, really thinking through. He even stayed a few minutes into lunch to finish up.

And he turned in his memoir project! Before giving it to me, he stuck a post-it note on it telling me it was private and he didn’t want anyone else to read it.

While it wasn’t a perfect composition and was laden with conventional errors, the content was good. And I definitely learned a lot about George, and how he wonders why his mother doesn’t want him…

This semester, George is definitely putting in a more effort. He still acts like a rascal sometimes, but at least he does his work. So while it was heart-crushing to see the look of disappointment on his face when I told him he was not yet at 80% mastery, at least now I know he wants it.

These are the things that the numbers don’t show. So while teachers (and TFA) may judge our effectiveness with our test scores, our numbers, the numbers don’t show the whole story. I think it’s very easy for teachers to get bogged down with the data and teaching to the test, and I think that’s why the job is so frustrating for me sometimes. I feel like I care less than I should about the TAKs, that I’m not invested in the big goal. Which, to be honest, I’m not – I’m invested in kids like George, where I can hopefully change their attitude, or at least shift their path a little.

March 3, they will take their TAKs. I think I will be just as happy as my kids when that’s over.