The Secret to Success

Oakwood Academy

I am a firm believer that good things do happen to good people; it’s just a matter of timing. Those four years in the projects helping high school dropouts get their G.E.D. paid off in a major way. It gave me over five years of experience in the classroom. Even though I didn’t have my college degree at the time I was still hired by Mrs. Fryson because of that experience. She told me when she reviewed resume that she based her decision on several factors. One factor was the impact I had on students. In less than half a year I was able to help a number of failing and borderline students regain the confidence in their academic abilities as well as get them excited about learning. Another was that fact that I was back in school and only a few semesters from completing my degree. After all those years of working primarily for free, I could finally tell De that I had my first real job with benefits!

Those few years at the academy were huge. For one, Mrs. Fryson’s decision to hire me elevated my confidence in a major way. Oakwood was a small community so it was no secret that some of the more influential members of the school board disapproved of her decision to hire me. That made me work that much harder for her. She pushed me professionally and personally but she never tried to box me in. Instead, she created a structure that harnessed my creativity and supported my unconventional teaching style. I will always be indebted to her for believing in me and giving me a chance when others were not willing to do so.

The love and support I received from my students also helped shape me as an educator. They trusted me enough to embrace my untraditional instructional style and respected me to the point that they made every attempt possible to reach the standards I set. We cried together, we traveled together, we laughed together, and more importantly we grew and matured together.

It would be impossible to share my entire teaching experience in this book. But there are some specific reasons I was able to experience a high level of success working with my students.

Tip 1: Build a relationship

After struggling early with some of the more challenging students in my class, I sought advice from a mentor who had been working with troubled youth for a number of years. The advice was simple yet game changing: “They don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care.” It’s not uncommon for these students to be abandoned by one or more parents, and that often leads to a mistrust of adults. I decided to take a personal interest in my student’s life. I stayed after school a day or two a week and got to know them. Sometimes we would play a little basketball or I would simply ask questions about their life at home. How are your siblings doing? How did your basketball game go the other day? Simple questions like that allowed the student to see that I cared about them not only academically but personally as well. I saw how demonstrating that type of interest went a long way not only in my relationship with the students but its affect on their academics.

Tip 2: Remember each student is different

While it is important as educators to use our past experiences to deal with future situations, remember that no two students are the same. Early in my career I was guilty of placing certain expectations on a student because I recognized similar behavioral patterns from previous students that I struggled to reach. For example, if I had two students with anger issues that failed to thrive in my class the previous year, the next year I automatically assumed that there was no possible way to reach the student who demonstrated similar personality characteristics. By making that assumption, I often failed to make a legitimate attempt at maximizing the students learning potential, instead choosing to focus on the students who “had a chance to succeed.” My thought processes were quickly redirected through a number of “success stories” (including my own), and from that day forward, I treated each and every student as a unique individual.

Tip 3: Find a balance