Why I Became an Advocate for Students (and why you might want to become one as well)

Intro

For over five years now, I have been acting as an advocate for students rights, and ensuring that the concerns of the student are heard by both policymakers and legislators. It has been my purpose in my adult life to do what I can to ensure that the largest stakeholder in education is represented. It’s been incredibly humbling to witness passionate high school students who are concerned about their school district, or their state who are able to take the initiative to become noble and determined liaisons for all of the students. To be able to read the examples of young people who are able to create an improved world for future students is extraordinary and should be admired.

The events that have transpired over the last five years have shaken me to my core. This has led me to a great awakening in which I have harnessed the tools and experience necessary to be an ally and create pathways of access for students to become empowered. I want to die knowing that within every single state in this country, there is an open seat for a student to be able to represent the concerns of their constituents. I am so grateful for the students that continue to push and make strides for our future, and I would not be here today, if it weren’t for the students that originally pushed for representation in education some forty years ago on the Massachusetts State Board of Elementary & Secondary Education, and the first student council created in New Jersey nearly ninety years ago.

School Committee

I thought it would be important to share my story of the very instance in which I knew I was going to be a student advocate. As a preface this is not meant to glorify how I tried to take a stand, but rather, highlighting the inherent flaws within the ways stakeholders of education interact with each other.

It was my junior year of high school, and I had been recently appointed as the student liaison for the school committee, I pushed my principal for instead having an election but he said it was too late in the year to do that since there was a vacancy in the position. During my time as a student liaison, there two most pertinent concerns were the following: The cost of the $1 million iPad initiative our school was taking, and that the students felt there was a disconnect between the administration and the students. I worked with the students that were experts in the field of computer science to propose a much less costly alternative to the iPads, which would have been the Google Nexus pads. It would have saved the school $600,000. When I originally advocated for this alternative on the school committee, it was met with mixed reviews ranging from, “this is a great idea and we should take the time to look into all solutions,” to, “we are too far along in the iPad initiative, and Apple provides a better tablet device.” When this occurred, I was called into the principal’s office where the district’s IT department held a surprise visit where they wanted to talk logistics about my proposal. Though I trust to this day my superintendent had the IT department visit me out of good faith and respect, because she wanted to take the time to hear what the students were thinking, the meeting instead felt more like an ambush, they knew in advance when they were going to meet with me, whereas I had no idea that such a meeting would occur, leaving my underprepared.

The school committee ended up continuing with the iPad initiative, which the public also initially had mixed reviews as well. I was glad to see that at the very least a discussion was set up with a student to ensure that there was some level of agreement (we both agreed that digital literacy was important) but I was offended at the way they approached the discussion in an interrogation-like manner. This was not the particular instance to which I was referring about wanting to dedicate my life to student advocacy, but it is an essential precursor to my story.

Later in my junior year, there was a public evaluation being done on the impact the superintendent had on the school district. As the student representative, I did not have a vote in this evaluation, but I asked for the materials to see what criteria was being evaluated for the superintendent. During this evaluation, each school committee member publicly announced where they superintendent was strong, and what issues she could improve upon. As a school committee member, I felt it necessary to represent the concerns that the students had, and I discussed the issue that attendance is low during these meetings, and ways that we could engage parents and students more. Before I was even allowed to speak, the chairperson said that, “I want to make sure that you understand that you are not a part of this,” to which I responded, “I want to be able to add my opinion,” [on behalf of the student perspective]. Following this meeting, I couldn’t stop thinking in my head, “if I am not a part of this evaluation, or if I don’t have voting rights, then, what is the point of me even being here?” Even though I had been working with State Student Advisory Council for the previous two years, this was the moment that I knew that the way we interact with our stakeholders had to change. Over half the states in this country forbid having students even be on school committees, and even more so, there are only four states with full voting rights on state boards of education. Additionally, there is not a single state that explicitly states that students on school committees should have full voting rights.

Addendum: Why Stakeholders Matter

As an addendum to the iPad initiative, the following year, the school’s budget was $600,000 in the red. This was not due to the iPad’s in of itself, but it had to do with students leaving the district, and special needs students needing out of district placements. Due to this shortfall, the school committee made the painful decision to lay off 42 employees in order to balance the budget. This may look like a case of, “I told you so,” but I can assure you that is not the intent of telling this story. This story highlights what happens when all stakeholders are ill informed of what is occurring within the school budget, and if stakeholders were better engaged, other solutions could have been made before reaching this decision to make mid-year layoffs. When we give stakeholders the ability to speak and find ways to engage the stakeholders, we allow for a robust dialog to occur, and not continue hiding potential concerns from the public.

I cannot stress enough that this story is not meant to lambaste the school committee I had the privilege of working with. To the contrary, I believe they all acted with the best of intentions and did not see engaging stakeholders as an option (I believe they were unknowing of that opportunity, as opposed to blatantly disregarding them in the decision making process). I only tell this story to provide insight to other school districts of how incorporating stakeholders could save people's careers, as well as creating a healthy community and culture of honest decision making.

Where's the Data?

I am currently working on a publication that highlights the evidence of how students being included as stakeholders with voting rights benefits educational policy, but I am not allowed to disclose my findings due to publication rights. My policy report pertains to the factual evidence and pragmatic approach to why we need students as stakeholders, whereas this blog will continue to be the emotional, or personal reasons why having students as stakeholders is both necessary and moral.

The Largest Stakeholder in Education

For the last five years, I have worked towards student representation in education. I’ve been perplexed by how often schools and government bodies around the country do not permit students to either sit on the Board of Education, have an active student constituency that can meet with government officials, or even something as simple as having a student sit on a local school committee. Policymakers have made the assumption that students aren't responsible enough to have a say in their own education, therefore, students have been left out of the table where all the other stakeholders in education get to decide how the students are directly impacted in their schools. This impact could be a change in community and culture, a change in the way they are assessed, or even what classes they must take in order to graduate. These are significant decisions being made without any student consultation. I’ve always said that students are the largest stakeholder in education, and I am an avid believer that they have a voice and they should be empowered to use it. Yet even today in 2016, there are only 4 states in the country where a student is invited to their State Board of Education, and they have full voting rights (MA, CA, TN, VT), and even more abysmal, is that there is only one state in which students get to elect their student advocate onto the Board of Education (Massachusetts).

This blog isn’t meant to be a sorrowful read of how students are heavily underrepresented in decisions that are changing their livelihood, rather, this post, and this blog in general is meant to highlight how student organizations across that country have taken action and have created/advocated for meaningful legislative changes that have brought a beneficial impact to the community. As of today, there are over 15 states in the country (more than 25% of the U.S.) that have had serious legislation/policy created or advocated by students that has been approved either by the state legislature or the State Board. Some of the issues have pertained to student homelessness, sibling custody rights, and anti-discrimination laws of LGBTQ community. My research is based on the notion that students have shown integrity, dedication, and passion towards their work and can be taken seriously. As the Massachusetts Student Representative, Donald Logan-Willyard said to me, “the burden of proof has shifted from the students to the policymakers now.” These instances of policy changes are puzzle pieces scattered across the country, and until now, they have never been connected. My blog will help in understanding how these puzzle pieces connect, as well as solidifying a case for people who doubt that students can actually change the world in which we live.

2016 South Burlington High School Case Study

Summary

For the 2016 Spring Semester, I have had the genuine privilege of not only working with an ELL student, but I have had the opportunity to grow with him as well. The student I tutored (for purposes of privacy, he will be referred to as, Walter), has only been in America for 8 months, but amount of sincere effort and passion he places into his academics is unprecedented, and truly admirable. As I have discussed in my attached case study, Walter has experienced serious trauma this semester, and my fellow tutor and I have worked closely with him to ensure that his well being is intact, as well providing him with the opportunities to cope and take time to take a step back from academics to find hobbies that bring him happiness (such as music). I have maintained regular contact with his ELL Instructor throughout the semester to report on Walter’s progress, and how he seems to be doing (in terms of well being). The ELL instructor has also provided me with valuable information in order for me to better engage him academically (his favorite subjects, or favorite movies for example). Growing with Walter is an experience I will never forget, and this experiences has validated my passion to be an educator.

In addition to the Case Study, I have also provided resources that pertain to Walter. I have attached a Developmental Matrix, which showcases some of various forms of adolescent development and how they have applied to my personal experiences, as well as to general experiences. For my Adolescent Development Course, I also constructed a lesson plan that I had the opportunity to teach to my fellow peers. My lesson plan also includes elements of scaffolding to ensure that all the various needs of the students are being properly met.

This experience of taking Adolescent Development has made me grow exponentially as a person, and as a future educator, I feel significantly closer to the information I need to know and implement throughout my future career. Being a tutor for an ELL student has been a rewarding and humbling experience in which I worked to impart Walter with the desire to learn more, and discover personal interests and aspirations, and I would gladly do this all again in a heartbeat.

Case Study Resources:

Case Study

Developmental Matrix

Lesson Plan

Music as Problem Solving

Balancing Passions

Outside of education, my biggest passion in life is making music. For me, music is the greatest equalizer there is, because it does not matter what your gender, race, is, or what language you speak, because when musicians are in the same room, the universal language of music is being spoken and performed. Music has been something I hold so dearly, because it allows me to vent, it allows me to find inner peace, it makes me smile, and it makes me think. As with many forms of art, music can be passed off merely as a form of expression and not a “valid or lucrative field of study.”

One of the greatest conflicts I have in my life is trying to balance my passion for education and my passion for music. Up until recently, I have thought of these passions as mutually exclusive with no possibility of aligning with each other (outside of instruction of an instrument, or having concert band). Lately I have been thinking about my experience in Marching Band, and some of the best lessons I have learned in life have come from our band’s drum instructor, Mr. Jamison.

Our Performance of "Open Seas" in 2012

Lifelong Lessons

Mr. Jamison is a man that was constantly able to pull the best performance out of every single student consistently. He raised the bar so high, not because he wanted to break us or demoralize us, but he truly believed that we had something in us, a talent, that we couldn’t see in ourselves. One of the best lessons that he taught me is that no matter what I end up doing, I can always carry music with me, whether I were to choose a path in music, or that I become an educator, there is always the option of keeping music close to my heart. That is something I have been contemplating a lot recently, and I can’t get that lesson out of my head. During this semester I have worked on making my first official album as a musician and the positives and detriments that come with putting my time into a passion project during a rigorous academic semester. While I had been working on this album, two thoughts came to mind: the first being that Mr. Jamison not only gave me reassuring advice, but he gave me the truth. I was nervous that I would lose one of the things that make me most happy in college, playing and making music. Thankfully, I have had the privilege of performing in three bands on campus as a drummer, and I have also had the time to make an album in which I could create music beyond my comfort zone of drumming. The second thought I had is that college, and education in general, is about exploration and stepping out of one’s comfort zone, and that is something I constantly tried to accomplish while making my album (Existential Happiness).

Time Management & the Process of Song-Making

The biggest lesson I learned when balancing music and academics is time management. It is so incredibly easy to have four hours go by in an instant when you are working on something you are putting your full, undivided attention into. When I start from scratch, I see an empty template in which there is a solution, either like a puzzle or an equation. I break down the components I need in a certain song, whether that is the instruments, the mood I want, or the samples I may choose. I now have multiple concepts, but they are not necessarily in the places they need to be in order for this song to be “solved.” The idea of a song being solved is when I am able (from my perspective) to place the elements of the song I want into the places where I think they need to be, and this process involves serious tweaking and attention to detail. This component also is impossible to do incrementally for me, because I constantly feel like I am on the brink of solving the problem, or the song. If I stop, I fear that I might lose the process of spontaneity and creativity. The hardest part of making a song is thinking where one wants to start, because it is the least creative part of song making, because you aren’t necessarily allowing yourself to be spontaneous, this is a very premeditated part of music making, and doesn’t allow for the stream of consciousness to flow as much. The issue here is that on any given night, I typically have five-seven hours of homework to complete, as well as trying to sleep, go to the gym, and see my friends. Being able to balance all of these aspects was near impossible for me, but I learned to let go of the song by a certain time. If I wasn’t done with a song by a certain time in the night, I would breathe, and stop. When I came back to the song the next night, I would remind myself what key it is in, and I would allow myself to improvise from there (I refuse to keep in my head what ideas I should put into my song next, because there is a disparity between a sound in my head, and how it actually sounds on a particular instrument). Time management is the greatest virtue of all.

This semester, I worked on a song entitled, “Cape Cod Heroine.” This song pertained to the heroin epidemic that has plagued my hometown. I wanted to do something in order to advocate for better treatment facilities on Cape (since we do not have long term rehabilitation clinics) and also the dangers of heroin. I acknowledge the fact that I can’t sing, but I solved this problem by finding pieces of a documentary and constructing a narrative with a melody behind it in order to intentionally set a mood, and create an environment in which the listener is able to engage their self with the material, or the song in this case. As a future educator, the quintessential aspect of teaching is engaging students with the material, as a musician, the goal is quite similar. I want to immerse the listener and make them think, while also enjoying the melodies. A lot of conventional songwriting will be delivered in a processed format (intro, verse, chorus, refrain etc…) and that might be a wholesale approach towards sending a message or an idea out to people, but this is not necessarily the most engaging way of doing so. I wanted to avoid the standard format, because I believe that trying something different catches the listener’s attention much more. I have provided below a link to my artist page (Uncle Ephrum) and the song I made (Cape Cod Heroine).

Cognitive Foundations: Lesson Plan Reflection

Every Voice Matters in the Classroom

This semester, I had the opportunity of implementing and instructing a lesson plan pertaining to cognitive foundations for my adolescent development class. I found this experience to be life changing, in the sense that this was the last validation or stepping stone I needed to know that I wanted to be an educator, not because of how I performed as an educator, but the amount of information I had the privilege of receiving from the amazing students in our adolescent development class.

Often times when policy makers or educators stress the importance of community and culture, it can often become mired due to the terminology reflecting an emerging buzzword in education, and when this phenomenon occurs, it transcends its original intent and often becomes an empty phrase that once had genuine meaning and intent. That being said, I cannot stress enough how impactful the community and culture of this particular classroom is, and it is not facilitated solely by one person, but it is a joint entity between the students and the educator to ensure that each voice is considered valid. I believe this community and culture derives from the first impression of the educator and how much they value the students in the class. I intentionally refrain from saying “their” students, or “my students,” as I feel that presupposes a certain top-down relationship between the educator and the students that can’t be reciprocated, I believe it is essential for an educator to be a facilitator, but it always bothers me when I have seen educators not regard what some students have to say is valid. Community and culture begins with an open and honest dialog from the educator. In this case, they lay out expectations and set the tone for the entire class, and this is a crucial point in which the educator decides whether or not they can open their mind to reciprocating knowledge between themselves and the students. I firmly believe there must be an equal exchange between students and the educator in terms of knowledge and perspective. My most meaningful classes have been discussion based, because there is a rare, but truly exciting opportunity in which everyone has an open form to express their ideas and thought without fear of judgement if it is implemented correctly by a facilitator. I’ve found that ever Professor of Education at Saint Michael’s College has excelled in this department, and for me, this sense of equality, and the conviction that the educator learns from students is something that I not only emulate, but it is something I strive to uphold.

When I began creating my lesson plan for my adolescent development class, I wanted to ensure that I could provide every opportunity for discussion whenever I deemed fit. I laid my lesson plan out in a way that I provided a cursory look into a subject within the chapter of cognitive foundations (the chapter I selected) and I not only wanted to connect terminology to real life applications (in this case how to engage students in the classroom), but I wanted students to provide examples in which they thought the definition would fit into the “real world.” For example, when talking about Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences, I had students discuss how they as future educators could engage students in a math class when they might be musically oriented, or artistically oriented. This provided an opportunity for think-pair-share in which people could take the time to think about the definition of Multiple Intelligences, pick a specific intelligence, and demonstrate how it could apply to a engage a student. My lesson plan emphasized the importance of accommodating both the learning needs of students, but how to capture intrinsic motivators to keep students interested in a subject they otherwise are not fond of.

I don’t believe my lesson plan is perfect by any means (which can be referenced at the bottom of the page) but I don’t believe there is a perfect lesson plan. A plan is meant to be a strategic outline in which we can create a coherent network of ideas and information that can be discussed in a sensible way between students and the educator. Specifically, I found that I would often deviate from my lesson plan, which I felt comfortable doing, because when I found a natural flow of intellectual conversation between students, I found that point of engagement, when there were little pauses for participation, this, in my opinion, is where some of the best opportunities for learning begin, because it is an uninterrupted flow of thought and perspective that is pure. The terminology might not be quite there, but the intent and the passion shines through which provides a chance for there to be clarification, and connection of main themes within a lesson. My biggest fault was going significantly over time, but I was not worried about finishing the lesson, because I know regardless of how far we went into the lesson plan, students would leave with the information and confidence they need to further explore, but more importantly, they would leave remembering what we discussed, because I aimed to engage everyone in an equal conversation, which is paramount to a lesson. I respect the merits of a primarily lecture based format, but I believe that there is a propensity for one to disengage because they are not convinced they are on the same plane of conversation between other students and the educator, which is unfortunate loss of passion and deliberation, that being said, there are also brilliant opportunities to make a lecture work even better than a discussion, but I believe this is a stylistic choice, and not a necessity. I do however believe that there has to be point in which there is conversation, because it reminds students that the educator is vested in student input and perspective.

The Classroom is a Never-Ending Concert

A classroom environment that provides students the opportunity to explore and experiment with personal style allows both educators, and students to learn from each other, and further develop their own teaching styles. As someone who has played the drums for over 12 years, I look at teaching in the same way I play a drum beat: I find a rhythm that I am able get myself into, while convincing others that I am vested in the rhythm I am playing, and I try to project this through adding drum fills, and not continuing the same cadence, I will also switch rhythms while still maintaining the basic structure of the beat, but the rhythm is constantly evolving with nuances that allow time for people to digest and respond to through playing a certain phrase (in this case, volunteering or discussing) with confidence, the notes may not always be right, but to quote one of my favorite jazz musicians Herbie Hancock, recounting a story with Miles Davis, and Wayne Shorter:

“This night was magical. We were communicating almost telepathically, playing ‘So What'”—one of the group’s signature pieces. “Wayne [Shorter] had taken his solo. Miles was playing and building and building, and then I played the wrong chord. It was so, so wrong. In an instant, time stood still and I felt totally shattered. Miles took a breath. And then he played this phrase that made my chord right. It didn’t seem possible. I still don’t know how he did it. But Miles hadn’t heard it as a wrong chord—he took it as an unexpected chord. He didn’t judge what I played. To use a Buddhist turn of phrase, he turned poison into medicine.”

In other words, there is no wrong note, and even if the answer is not right, there is an amazing space in which the students and the educator can learn from an experience and perspective that allows the classroom to further grow together. I have played shows in which I have messed up playing the drums plenty of times, but I would never let the audience know that I messed up, I would maintain composure and maintain playing with confidence, if I skip a beat, the next beat can be tweaked and salvaged, in the same way that if I made a mistake while teaching (which I made many mistakes) I would project confidence and belief in my capabilities, because I don’t want my potential panic or fear to be projected on students, because they will lose the sense of confidence that if they say something incorrectly, they should fear judgment, which is not the case whatsoever (or at least it should not be).

Lesson Plan Link

A Lesson on the F-Word (Failure)

An Example of How People Can Learn in Different Ways:

Since I have been home over spring break, I have had the opportunity to catch up with my Mom, who has been my rock throughout my entire life, and has inspired me to be the better person every single day. She has worked as a diagnostic technician in the ER for 25 years and has recently decided to move into another career. The issue was that she had to take a typing test in order to get a job, as well as take an extensive anatomy and physiology test. The concern my Mom had was that she is dyslexic and is not able to type to the standards that the test requires. She asked me if I would be willing to help her study and practice for the exam and I replied saying that I would be more than glad to help.

In order for my mom to pass the typing test, she needed to type at least 30 words per minute (WPM) and she was, at the time, only typing about 0-5 WPM (if typos are taking into consideration). In addition, my Mom was only allowed 10 mistakes on an exam with 100 matching responses. My Mom also told me that we only had three days to study, which made me a little nervous, but I did not want to express that, because I believed in my Mom, because I have seen how much she has been able to provide as a single Mother.

As an aspiring educator, a lesson that I quickly learned in working with my Mom was that I need to further step out of my comfort zone of instruction, typically, I tend to be encouraging and nurturing as a tutor, because I don’t want students to shut down if they get the answer incorrect. With my Mom however, I quickly realized this was not the teaching strategy she needed, or wanted for that matter, because she is use to high pressure and stress, and encouragement doesn’t allow her to focus to the best of her ability. One of the first ideas I had to accommodate for my Mom was to have her be engaged in her typing test (she has told me that she has a lot of difficulty concentrating on a computer). I think one of the greatest problems with online typing tests is that they typically pertain to arbitrary topics that don’t allow people to necessarily see the big picture and importance of being able to digitally communicate in the 21st century. What I ended up doing is relating the typing test back to my Mom’s work environment, where the Emergency Room is high stress, I wanted to convey that sense of urgency by telling my mom she had to pretend that she was typing in the information for an injured patient, and the information had to be completed within a minute, in order for the patient in critical condition to have a greater chance of surviving. This instantly boosted my Mom’s typing speed up to 10 WPM, which made both of us happy, because progress was being made.

My Mom hit her first hurdle at 10 WPM, so I had to up the ante in terms of providing the work environment my Mom is able to thrive in. She told me that she is an auditory learner and she has great difficulty writing words on a screen. I decided it would be a good idea to ask her who the most demanding Doctor is in the ER in order to get the most efficiency out of her typing, she responded by saying “Dr. X” is the best in terms of motivating people, due to his high standards and fast-paced work ethic. “He is also known to be a hot-head and not accept excuses,” my Mom explained. I was a bit nervous to have to act as an a loud doctor towards my Mom, because I am not the type who likes to put direct pressure on people, nor do I like to raise my voice, but I was also willing to try this in order to best replicate her work environment, in order to show the application of typing skills in the real world. When my Mom began typing, I would yell off the first sentence once, while also stating the time she had left, to illicit pressure. Additionally, if I saw she was over-concentrating and getting stuck on a word (typically it was a smaller word) I would try to lower her level of concentration by telling her the condition of the patient. At this point my Mom was typing at 15 WPM, which is the halfway point for the typing test.

I had one more idea to have my Mom act as if she were really in the hospital working, and I had two ideas: The first idea being that she cannot look at the screen and type at the same time, so I told my Mom to say the sentence under her breath while she was typing, since she is an auditory learner (and also I was not allowed in the testing room so I could not read the sentences for her). Secondly, I went online and found stock ER sounds (EKG machine, the sounds of stretchers, etc…) to simulate her work environment. Before each test, I would tell her to take a deep breath and only focus on the task at hand. At this juncture, her typing was up to 20 WPM. Unfortunately, she was having difficulty consistently getting above 20 WPM, and she was getting discouraged.

I emphasized to my Mom that she was capable of getting to 30 WPM, because I had seen her at points typing upwards of 40 WPM, but she would break her stride by either getting too focused and caught on a single word, or she would have too many typos. I couldn’t stress enough that she already has the capacity to type above the threshold she needed, and that boosted her confidence a little bit, but ultimately she did not pass the typing test.

In terms of the Physiology test, I know that having multiple people practice with each other yields a greater chance of acquiring deeper learning, so I learned the definitions and terms, and we both quizzed each other, and I made sure that when I was reading off either definitions, or terms, that all of my explanations were auditory based, because that is her best way of retaining information. For words that were similar, I would use alliteration and other mnemonic devices in order for the information to be stored in our memory. When we practiced the test out loud, she excelled and was not getting any questions incorrect, but when she went to take the exam online, following the typing test, she also did not pass the physiology test.

Failure Can Only Exist When There is no Commitment to Learning & Teaching:

In my mind, I thought I had failed my Mom at first when she did not pass these two tests, but I realized that she had demonstrated her proficiency in the content of the skills she needed, but her tests did not necessarily accommodate her needs as a test-taker. When a test is only given through one medium, it doesn’t allow the test-taker to project their comprehension if they have a learning disability, and this can easily be applied to the macro scale with common assessments, do we want to test everyone to have the same level of proficiency, or are we testing everyone to have the same proficiency in a particular format? We can’t have the expectation that people learn in the same way, but in a profession, I understand the necessity for people to demonstrate their proficiency.

My Mom and I were not upset in the end, because she was thankful for how much she was able to learn in a short period of time, whereas I was incredibly proud of my Mom for how much she grew in three days. I’m a firm believer that the growth of someone is much more indicative of quality education than what they can demonstrate in a particular form of assessment. I saw my Mom step out of her comfort zone, and she ended up having a fall back strategy, which my Mom and I talked about in the event she didn’t pass the test, I told her that my Professor told us that we should at least have three other options if our first plan does not work out the way we would have desired.

The biggest lesson I have learned is that failure cannot possibly exist when someone can grow in their learning and grow as a person. If a person does not succeed the first time, that does not make them a failure, but they simply haven’t reached their desired outcome, there is always a lesson in success, and there is an even greater lesson in failing, it allows us to see how we can grow when we didn’t get our desired outcome. It is incredibly easy to thrive when we are used to succeeding, because we have a sense of confidence, but when we fail, is really where actual learning begins, because it makes us re-evaluate, it makes us plan, and it makes us grow as people.

Building Trust & the Desire to Learn with an ELL Student

The Desire to Learn

Tutoring an ESL student provides a unique opportunity to work with someone personally and hone in on certain skill sets, as well as build on necessary language foundations. There is a significant amount of multitasking when engaging an ESL student. Though it can be difficult to balance the role of simultaneously teaching relevant information to a high school student, while also making sure the ESL student can understand and effectively comprehend the material in a foreign language, it is vastly more difficult to be the student applying their undivided concentration and established skills with confidence.

Additionally, this is an intense period of transition for an ESL student and their family, as they have likely emigrated to America, or have entered the nation to seek political asylum. As a future educator, I am beginning to learn the intricacies of working with an ESL student. There is a delicate proverbial tightrope to balance on between challenging the student through scaffolding and projecting confidence, while also ensuring that the student doesn’t get discouraged to a point of apathy.

The absolute best educators in my life have excelled with maintaining the balance between facilitating a classroom to ensure students can explore, while providing the necessary guidance that students regularly seek.

Engaging a Student in Times of Hardships

In the very brief experience I have had as a tutor and an educator so far, I have learned how important it is to build trust with a student during times of hardship and turmoil, especially when these hardships occur for ELL students at a crucial transitional period between moving from a completely different culture.

Recently, my student, Walter, has incurred a tremendous amount of stress and personal crises that could result in a student losing their well being as well as being engaged in a different culture and classroom. My student is a refugee who has experienced a great deal of instability and chaos in his personal life before entering America, and since moving here, he has lived a new type of chaos, adjusting to a completely foreign lifestyle to him.

Specifically, Walter, a fellow tutor, and myself found a video, in which his best friend from his native country killed himself in protest of a brutal government. It is not only devastating to hear about a best friend’s passing, especially if it is a suicide, but to find out about this terrible news through a trending video is outright traumatic for anyone.

Walter was completely shocked and damaged by this horrible news, and he talked about why would his best friend choose this life path, as well as expressing how difficult it is for him to concentrate in school. I talked to Walter and discussed how tragic this was, and I ensured that he felt comfortable reflecting on this awful news. I also emphasized that there are vast resources that can help him during these dire times, as well as saying that my fellow tutor and I are there to help in anyway possible. Most importantly, we explicitly stated that he is not alone. He simply replied that he always feels alone at school, and feels like an outsider.

The term outsider is a terrifying word to hear as an educator, because it means that there is a fundamental issue with either the community and culture that is being promoted, or with the experiences the student has had in a new country so far. For the last week, I have felt as if I have failed, because I wanted to be able to help him more, but I have also realized that Walter trusts myself and my fellow tutor, because he is willing to open up about a traumatic experience of this magnitude, and having this kind of trust in a teacher-student relationship is paramount to keeping a student on the right track, both from a well being perspective, and an academic perspective.

The upcoming works are going to be a challenging time of emotional transition for Walter, but it is imperative that I ensure the most stable and easy transition for him, to ensure that he is going to cope in a healthy manner as well as excel as a student in the classroom. I have been researching a few websites to better understand long term strategies to help with a student that has experienced a traumatic experience, and I have also modified this list to make sure it properly aligns with ELL students in particular:

• Maintain Contact with Professionals Within the School: Walter, more than anything else right now, needs a sense of belongingness in the world, especially when he has lost such a dear friend. As a tutor, I do not have the ability to see Walter everyday, but his teachers and guidance counselors have the ability to meet with him on a day-to-day basis. First and foremost, through reaching out to teachers, one ensures that the teacher is actually aware of the situation, that way they can better accommodate the needs of the student in a classroom setting, as opposed to a one-on-one tutoring session. Additionally, the guidance department has access to more resources in order to provide for students who experience trauma. Maintaining these contacts also allows for multiple perspectives to be seen, which permit the “full picture,” of what is happening to this particular student. In some instances if the trauma was indirect from a foreign country, there may be outside resources that can provide contact between the United States, and the origin nation of the student.

• Positive Reinforcement is Key: Learning a foreign language full time at school is already a daunting enough task that is often paralleled with embarrassment and a sense of feeling inferior to other students. During this pivotal juncture of the student’s trauma, there is nothing more detrimental than to criticize their work. The paragon of engagement within the classroom begins at the internal level with confidence and believing that “I can do this.” It is better to focus on praising a student for their excellent work, or speaking skills during this time, but that does not mean that offering critique is impossible either. Delicately approaching communication and criticism will ensure the student is learning what they need and want to know. A compliment sandwich in terms of their work may be a beneficial strategy to point out criticisms, while also giving praise for the student.

• Developing Routines: Trauma is often affiliated with the unexpected, through offering a routine in the format of teaching a student, they will feel a sense of comfort and expectations. This does not mean everything has to be done exactly the same, but rather, it means that starting a tutoring session with review, or working on homework. Excitement can exist in the routine, each lesson is different, but the format of the tutoring session should be similar.

• 
  Take Time to Breathe: Often times ELL students can be spending upwards of 8-10 hours a day in school, it is okay to take time to reflect, and breathe. School can be a hectic environment that yields sensory overloading, but this can be resolved through taking time to reflect. Perhaps this can be achieved through playing a game (which can tie in with language skills, while simultaneously being low key) or asking what the student would like to do for a certain period of time. Time is limited with tutoring and trying to cram information in an hour for ELL students is important, but this can often be overwhelming for students as well.

Resoures: 

http://www.edutopia.org/discussion/8-ways-support-students-who-experience-trauma 

http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/the_silent_epidemic_in_our_classrooms