My first year teaching, one of my fellow teachers asked to look at my roster. She then proceeded to tell me which kids I needed to look out for. She even told me some of the things that had happened in her class, which only served to truly shock me and scare just a tad. Luckily, that year I was teaching mostly freshmen and she didn’t know them.
School started and the classes really weren’t what I had expected, it was a little bit of a struggle, but no fires were set in my room (yes, that was one of the stories I heard about). Those students even told me stories from how they behaved in her class too. And those were WAY worse than anything she told me. I was even more shocked because while several had some really serious problems, they weren’t like that for me. Then, I realized there were two major differences. I wasn’t the other teacher and they weren’t the same as they had been the previous year.
That was the last time I listened to what another teacher told me about a student.
A few years later I had a student that I had had to deal with a few times; watching other classes, testing, and just in the hall. I started off the year giving him the chance to be a different person. I was going to treat him just like every other student and build a relationship with him so that he could be successful in my class. You know what happened when I did that? HE WAS ABSOLUTELY AWFUL!!! He was rude, disruptive, and just a general pain in the butt. He was in ISS so often the second semester, I’m pretty sure they just left his name on the cubicle. The turn around to this story is that the NEXT year, he turned it all around. He was getting good grades, he got to be an office aide, stayed out of ISS, and he got back on track for graduation.
On a more personal note, my son had a lot of problems when he first started school. His frustration would get the best of him and he would have serious outbursts. We worked through it and he’s grown since then. It took a couple of years and a lot of reinforcement and some very patient teachers, but we got him there. He didn’t stay “that kid” forever and he shouldn’t have to be labeled as such.
Things like that are only possible when you give each student a clean slate. They deserve to start the new year without a teacher already ready to “show them how it is in my class.” People change, they grow, and they often get better.
As you head back, if anyone offers to look at your roster, politely decline. If anyone offers you a warning about a student, feel free to ignore it. When each student walks in your room, let them have their clean slate. Show them that you are willing to let them grow and do better.
And if they have a bad day, bad week, or a bad first semester; let them walk in to your class each day with a clean slate.
