"What Do You See When You Look at Me?": Students Misunderstood

What Do You See When You Look at Me?

By Kathryn L. Craig, M.Ed.

Do you see a student who is lazy and doesn’t complete his work,

Or that I'm too embarrassed to inform you that I can’t read?

What do you see when you look at me?

Do you see a girl who has no future because she is a teen mom,

Or that I have motivation now because I want a good future for my son?

What do you see when you look at me?

Do you see a student who is habitually absent from school,

Or that I sometimes have to work during school hours to support my family?

What do you see when you look at me?

Do you see a thug because of the big shirts and baggy jeans,

Or that I have to wear hand-me-down clothes that are too big on me?

What do you see when you look at me?

Do you see a trouble-maker because of the cursing when angry,

Or that I don't have appropriate vocabulary to express myself?

What do you see when you look at me?

Do you see an apathetic student because of the falling asleep in class,

Or that I struggle to stay awake because I work until midnight so I can help pay rent?

What WILL you see

when you look at me?

"He never completes any of his work. How can he expect to pass this class? I doubt he cares anyway!"

"She's just going to be another statistic on welfare with her being a teen mom!"

"This is his tenth absence this grading period. How can he expect to graduate when he never shows up?"

The above comments are common, but what is not as common is taking the time to truly understand students and their needs. By taking the time to build relationships with students, educators will discover that students will achieve better academic growth, and have less behavior infractions than those who do not take the time.

Studies have shown that building and maintaining positive relationships with students results in significant increases in academic achievement, making it worthwhile to spend the time getting to know them.

• "With a strong .72 effect size [.72=1-1.5 years growth], student-teacher relationships are in the top 10 of all student achievement factors..." (Jensen, 42).
• "Believing that no one cares or their teachers don’t like them or talk down to them, students will often give up on academics" (Mouton & Hawkins, 1996).
• "...[S]tudents who have strong teacher-student relationships have higher academic achievement and have more positive social-emotional adjustment than their peers who do not have a positive relationship with a teacher (Murray & Malmgren, 2005).

Remember, for many of our students they only allow us to see what they want us to see. By establishing relationships, we are able to begin to see beyond the mask, and the wonderful potential each and every one has!

Works Cited

Jensen, E. (2009). Teaching with poverty in mind: What being poor does to kids' brains and what schools can do about it. Alexandria, Va: ASCD.

Mouton, S.G. & Hawkins, J. (1996). School attachment perspectives of low-attached high school students. Educational Psychology, 16(3), 297-304.

 Murray, C., & Malmgren, K. (2005). Implementing a teacher–student relationship program in a high-poverty urban school: Effects on social, emotional, and academic adjustment and lessons learned. Journal of School Psychology, 43(2), 137-152

[Author's Note: If you are interested in professional learning sessions, on-site coaching to better reach and teach students, or even guest speaking opportunities please feel free to contact me or visit my website at www.edu-sourceconsulting.net to learn more.]