I have gotten two new female students recently. Both nice, mostly respectful young ladies who have not succeeded in school. Both have moved around, have pretty terrible attendance and are very unengaged in school.
One of the girls today refused to do the work in history even when I was working with her 1 v 1 and just kept repeating "I am so dumb. I am stupid-I can't do this. I am stupid." So, we stopped and talked outside....her tears just came coming as I spoke. I reinforced what a brilliant mind she has, the potential she has and cited examples that I have seen in 3 short weeks. I tried as best as possible to build her up so that she could believe what I already know-just what an incredible human being she is. She couldn't stop crying and wouldn't talk to me about it so I asked to give her a hug and we went back to class. It broke my heart because I know there is a LOT MORE she has to say/feel inside.
It makes me wonder if anyone has ever confirmed her brilliance and her talent and her ability. I have no idea what home life is and I don't want to infer. But, something is causing her to call herself stupid over and over again in school.
From there, she just went downhill and had some moderate behavior problems today. She went on to yell at me and tell me that I don't care, I don't care about teaching, listening or anything. I think that not many things deep down get to me, but this did. It was really hard to have her tell me that I don't care. I care more than any of those young people probably realize. I think about the students E.V.E.R.Y single day...I think about what will motivate them, what they need to learn to succeed, opportunities I can provide for them, and just how important my time is for their life.
I can only hope that she will begin to see just how much I care about her and her education.
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