Labels, welcome calls, and a dose of humility

Part of my job as a teacher for FLVS involves completing Welcome Calls to new students and their parents when they are assigned to my class. I really enjoy this part of my job because it gives me an opportunity to establish positive rapport with kids right away, and to learn a little bit about them. One of the first questions I ask is, “Tell me a little bit about why you are taking English 3 with Florida Virtual School.”

A few days ago I asked a new student that question, and his answer brought tears to my eyes. He told me that he failed the first semester in his traditional school (which is a reason that many students come to FLVS), but went on to clarify for me that he failed, “not because I’m dumb, but because the teacher didn’t want to teach me.” I stayed quiet to give him a chance to vent, as I’ve found sometimes kids just need to do. He proceeded to tell me, “She put me and the two other Black kids in the back like we just didn’t need to learn this stuff…never answered our questions and didn’t take us seriously…”

Now, I wasn’t there in the classroom so I’m not going to demonize this teacher that I don’t know and brand her a racist, but I certainly think we need to consider seriously the feelings of the student who feels that he was set up for failure. Toward the end of the welcome call this student begged me to let him take both semesters online instead of just the first semester that he failed. He said that for him to stay in the class with this teacher was a waste of his time because no matter how hard he tried he was going to fail anyway. How heartbreaking a thought: that a student feels that no matter how hard he tries his teacher will not give him the benefit of the doubt and the “clean slate” he needs in order to be successful in her class. Again, whether this is true or not is pretty much inconsequential, what matters is that this is how the student feels, and we all know that perception is reality.

I was very humbled by this conversation and forced to reflect on the times that I have labeled kids, even if in my own head, for one reason or another. When we see a name on a roster and think to ourselves, “Oh dear, that’s so-and-so’s brother…” or, “I wish I didn’t have this student because I really don’t want to deal with that parent again…” or whatever the case may be, we need to admit that we are not giving our students a fair, equal opportunity. The labeling, stereotyping and segregating that my student and those at Baldwin High faced is certainly more overt and obvious by arguably both are detrimental to student success.