I had a new student start in my class today. He just moved into the district and lived in
another, more prominent area before moving.
Due to many changes in schedules, the front office was unable to warn me
about having a new student and thus, did not give me any information about him.
This class had 35 students, and now has 36. The new student, I will call him Tom, begins
the class by interrupting the class by explaining, in lecture form, how smart
he is to the class. I thought, okay…he
is obviously outgoing and I look forward to having a student with higher
academic abilities in the class as many of them struggle.
As my 7th grade class continued, Tom spills out a
load of small toys from his backpack. I
find this interesting, so I go and ask him to put them away as we have learning
to do. Tom then stands up, and goes to the front of the class and says,
“I have to play with my toys. My toys are my fidgets. I am an IEP with ED,
LD, ODD, OCD, and of course, ADHD”.
He then goes back to his seat, faces the back of the room,
and plays with his pile of toys.
Usually, I would have been informed about a student with
these types of needs. This however, is
NOT my issue.
My real issue is that he has learned to identify himself as a series of letter. He is not a student, a capable student, but a string of letters. There is only one way that a 12-year old gets to the point that they identify themselves as a string of letters, that in their eyes represents what it wrong with them...they have learned that this is who they are. They have been told this, or at least have heard this enough, from adults. My guess, they were adults that he expected to trust.
How can we allow this to happen?
How can we ever, in the world of education or working with kids, allow ourselves to distance our connection enough from kids that we describe them as letters. Letters of what the student can't do instead of what strengths they possess.
I want to take Tom and teach him that he is so much more.
He is Tom. He is worthy of a name.
Be Mindful.
Peace.
Mark Levine
#Mindfulliteracy
@LevineWrites
This post hit home with me. I taught a student once who frequently talked about his IEP, and insisted that I wasn't adhering to it. He also told me I wasn't following the suggestions of his OT, ST, and PT. I would tell him why I was actually doing all these things, but it was hard not to feel that his focus on his "conditions" made it harder to form a connection. We got through it all as I know you will. Kind of crazy, though.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for this response!
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