Teachbad on Paul Tough and How Children Succeed
I remember one time at a faculty meeting. It was early in my teaching career, in my first year as a high school teacher. I don’t remember what the meeting was about…kids or learning or something. But I do remember the stares and uncomfortable silence in the cafeteria after I made this comment in reference to my students:
I just…I just wish they would do something. All I want is for them to try. Give me something. Give me some kind of effort…anything…and I’ll do my best to work with it. If they do some work, I can help them. But I can’t do much if they don’t do much.
Following the uncomfortable silence, there may have been some discussion of my comment, but I honestly don’t remember. If there was any discussion, it didn’t make an impression. Possibly the following suggestions were made (say them with me): You need to have student buy-in. You need to make lessons relevant to their lives. Make sure y
