Wednesday, May 14, 2014

"Does It Always Have to be the "Good" Ones? Giving All Students a Chance!


I was talking to a high school teacher about the mentor program that was established between the 5th graders and the high school football team.

The response was, "Which football players?"


When I said I wasn't sure, the response was, "I hope it's not the ones I'm thinking about!. really hope it wasn't those kids!"

I paused, and said, "Well whichever ones they are, they have done an excellent job with our boys!".

Why do we automatically put down our kids? Why are we so quick to label? Why do we want to put our kids into a box?

Don't they deserve as much of a chance to fail and/or succeed as anyone else? 

Shouldn't we give them a chance to prove their worth?

Isn't it possible that when we place them in a certain environment, an environment where we thought they couldn't, they prove us wrong, and show us they could?

I am guilty of this as well. When there's a chore outside the realm of the Job Cards, there are certain names which are always at the tip of my tongue. I have to consciously stop myself, and think of another child I can call on. 

Everyone deserves a chance to prove that they aren't what we think they are. Some will succeed, some will fail.

Our kids loved having lunch with their mentors every week, enjoyed talking to them,  the field trip to their football game,playing with them at recess, and got a special thrill out playing with them in the End of the Year Flag football game. Whoever these young men were, they were a positive influence on our students.

I loved watching them interact with our "babies." Watching their eyes light up when they came for lunch, and greeted their mentee. The pride they felt in being a mentor.

I don't know which football players were chosen, but our kids loved them. 

It doesn't always have to be the "good" ones.

1 comment:

  1. It's great to hear about students breaking down barriers between cliques as well as between the "cool" kids and the ones often left behind. This should also make the younger students have far less fear of transitioning to high school.

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