Part 1: Kids Do Well

One thing that has been encouraged by my district and building administrators has been to build relationships with my students. This is something that requires me to take additional steps to learn about who my students are and also to determine what it is that is getting in the way of them doing what they can. I agree with Dr. Greene that the easier approach is to just assume that a student does not want to do something or achieve a certain outcome, but if I know who that student truly is, then relying on that philosophy might not even happen. I have been fortunate enough to have had some of my students as freshmen and seniors. I am more likely to demonstrate the kids will do well if they can philosophy with my senior students because I will have had time to establish collaborative problem solving with them. This philosophy can also be extremely difficult to maintain when other professionals within the building who work with the same student might hold them to the opposite philosophy of the student will only do well if they want to. I also wonder how difficult it might be to maintain the belief that students do well if they can during a situation when instruction is presented remotely and a teacher has not had the opportunity to learn who the student is. The one area I need to work on as an educator is how to also change the mindset of the student who might respond with, "I do not want to do that". 

Kids do well when they can vs. kids do well when they want to is a concept that made me rethink my philosophy on the education practice. I think educators get sucked into the latter statement, wanting to believe they've done all that they could and kids will only succeed if they have the willpower. I think we all know what students who do well when they want to look like--unmotivated, forgetful, argumentative, or lethargic. However, perhaps these kids are lacking resources they need to succeed. I believe when we look at students who lack resources and have obstacles put in front of their successes, they still look a lot like a student who perhaps choosing to not succeed or put in the work. Educators are valuable resources, but we cannot be the only resource.

As a special education teacher I have held this philosophy as well, and I've tried to share it with my co-teachers.  I think it's important for us to be aware of the level of ability that our students have.  If they can accomplish something, they will feel successful, and likely do more.  This is motivating for the students to have something they can do and accomplish.  It's important for us to understand how hard it is to fly if we don't have wings.  

This is an interesting theory that makes a lot of sense.  I think that I have fallen onto both sides of this fence.  I try to really find the root cause of a student's struggles and support those.  On the other hand, I place so much emphasis in my teaching practice on making my lessons engaging so that kids "wanna." I think it is important to fully understand and practice some of both principles. 

This video makes the important distinction between "kids do well if they wanna" vs. "kids do well if then can." Early in my career I made the mistake of believing that kids do well if they want to, so my job is to make him/her want to. I've worked in schools that share a similar belief. After years of working with challenging kids I agree that all kids want to do well. The challenge is finding out why can't  that student meet a particular goal. This is a much challenging, but important role. To me it all comes down to building relationships and getting to know kids. Taking the time to see past challenging behaviors and showing that kid you really care about them as a person. 

I agree with Dr. Greene's quote that "your philosophy guides your actions".  As an educator, I have always tried to create a classroom environment where students feel welcome, supported and comfortable learning Social Studies.  I have had students mask a personal obstacle in their life or academics with behavior issues. I can recall a few years back where a challenging student was bombing all of her tests/quizzes.  We figured out that she did not know how to study and had struggled with reading.  Without attempting to "figure out" what was getting in this student's way, the issues would still not be addressed. 

The idea that kids do well if they can seems simple.  In reality,  it becomes much more challenging as a teacher to determine what is needed to assist that child in learning.  I am a firm believer that most behavior problems are not caused by, "bad" children but by the coping mechanisms that the children have developed to get through the day/year at school.  It is much easier for the child to act out than to admit that the materials to too difficult or they don't have the prerequisite skills need to be successful. I feel as educator, we must first build a relationship with the child.  That report will assist us in determining how to best reach and teach that specific child.  We need to assume that students do want to learn and something is standing in their way.

Dr. Greene offers a perspective around deficit thinking. Our teacher identity and philosophies need to be rooted in positive, kid forward mantras. There is no data to support the idea that kids don't want to learn, and it's very dangerous to go into your instruction thinking that kids do not want to. There are ways to meet each student and as the practitioners it's imperative that we realize the work that goes into uplifting and consistently working against deficit thinking. 

Dr. Greene states, @Kids do well if they can. It is true that all of us want to succeed, though it may not always look that way. A challenging middle school student may have had something in their way for a long time. I know that building a good relationship with our students is one of the cornerstones of our middle school’s philosophy. I have to believe that it is the way to unlock the obstacles with these challenging students.

This quote stood out to me, because it's important to remember.  Dr. Ross spoke about reward and punishment.  He also shared with us that the difficult part of all of this is trying to determine what is stopping our student(s) from learning and doing well.  Trying to figure out, 'something must be getting in his way' will be the challenge.