At-Risk Students by Bill Page
Dramatic, compelling, sobering accounts of the frustration,discomfiture, and defensive ploys of students at risk, through the eyes and from the heart of a teacher who views failure from the students' perspective. Their notorious misbehavior, ranging from incompetence and disrespect to clowning, apathy, and defiance is a cover up for embarrassment and failure. Through vignettes and essays, the author places the reader firmly in the stuedents' moccasins and presents a reality check for teachers coping with disruptive, disobedient kids. |
Ch. 15
The Teacher Is the Difference
Whether students learn a little or a lot, whether they have a good day or bad, whether they improve their achievement depends on the teacher. Textbooks,, classroom conditions, and administrative policy can make a difference, but the teacher IS the difference.
THERE ARE MANY FACTORS THAT CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT BUT:
- Textbooks don't teach kids.
- Administrators don't teach kids.
- Rules don't teach kids.
- Tests don't teach kids.
- Block schedules don't teach kids.
- State departments of education don't teach kids.
- Support staffs don't teach kids.
- Politicians don't teach kids.
- Teachers teach kids!
TEACHERS DON'T GET TO CHOOSE:
- Their working conditions, rooms, or materials.
- Their students or their parents.
- Their administrators or their colleagues.
- Their class loads, schedules or student-teacher ratio.
- Their period or school day length
TEACHERS DON'T MAKE A DIFFERENCE,
THEY ARE THE DIFFERENCE IN KIDS' LEARNING
Kids don't know or care much about school reform, high stakes testing, inclusion, site-based management or assessment-driven curriculum—they just come to school. They have good days and bad days. Some days they learn a lot; some days seem to be a waste of time. Whether they learn a little
or a lot depends on what their teacher decides to do or not to do.
TEACHERS TEACH KIDS—THEY DO IT BY:
- Their minute-to-minute decisions; their communication skills and their knowledge.
- Their motivational skills; they can make a kid feel competent and confident.
- Their ability to stimulate a student's interest and facilitate his learning.
- They make a difference in the kid's attitude, participation and in his/her life.
THE TEACHER IS THE DIFFERENCE IN KIDS' LEARNING!
Printed with permission from Educational Dynamics Publishing Company.
At-Risk Students Feeling Their Pain, Understanding Their Defensive Ploys by Bill Page
 Bill Page, a farm boy who graduated from a one-room school, attended a rural high school, flunked out of college, and was drafted into the Korean War. Later, with maturity, military experience and the G.I. Bill, he received his teaching credentials. He became a specialist, teaching middle-school "troublemakers." Bill went on to originate and direct a successful USOE research program for six years. Then for 26 years he taught teachers across the nation to teach the lowest achieving students with his proven premise, "Failure is the choice and fault of schools--not students. |
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