Painting, teaching, watching too much TV.
Those are a few things that I'm good at, but I'm much more interested in learning about others and what they think they're good at. Specifically, I wanted to know what my students thought they were good at in a previous field placement, and the answers I got back were eye-opening.
So let me rewind.
I was placed in an urban public school with a Geometry teacher whose students ranged from advanced 9th graders to repeating 12th grade students. I was fortunate enough to teach a lesson each day that I was there, and after a while I realized that I only got to know a handful of students out of about 80.
"How do I get to know more of them in the short amount of time I'm with them?" I asked myself.
Exit slips!
It's a simple concept: here's a question, write it down and give it to me as you leave.
I started with "What do you want to do after high school?" and I found it interesting that most of them wanted to go to college. Funny how all but one mentioned a trade school, or some post-secondary training that was specific to a career other than college. It's like they've been trained to see college as the only option, and anything else makes them a failure...but that's for a different conversation.
The next week's question was, you guessed it: What Are You Good At?
I asked this because in a math class with an average grade of a low C, most students do not believe that they're good at math. So, what are they good at?
I learned a few interesting facts about some students, like the self-aware talking talent and sleeping hobby, but one exit slip was just honest.
"3 things I'm good at? Jeez anything but math. I feel like I'm good at video games, I'd hope so at least because that's what I do with my free time. I also feel like I'm good at History, I usually ace those classes. I also feel like I'm good at helping people, thus far I've prevented 3 suicides."
Everything around me seemed to move in slow motion on the ride back home. This was a student who I never really knew too well, but made me realize just how easy it is to forget how hard high school can be.
I was so mixed up in creating interesting and effective lesson plans, making a point to show them that math isn't everything but it does teach you so much more than numbers, setting a good example, etc. etc., but I forgot to see them as teenagers. They are just trying to get through some days, all of them. Not just the ones who stayed during lunch and the ones missing to take care of their child at home. All of them.