Treating students fairly — but not the same

I am a second-year Teach for America teacher who teaches middle school science in Brooklyn. I have come to realize that in order to get the results that I desire from my students, I not only need to be aware of their different learning modalities, but I also need to be familiar with their personal needs.

Luis (not his real name) is an eighth-grade student in my Earth Science class. He commutes to school everyday from a very dangerous neighborhood. The guidance counselor has informed me that Luis spends most of his time indoors when at home because of the intense gang activity. He is incredibly bright but has lost his motivation. He spends most of his time in science class challenging my authority instead of doing his assignments. Last year, it got to the point that the mere sight of him would cause my stomach to tighten up. I knew I was losing him, but I felt that I had exhausted all my resources. I had already spoken to the guidance counselor, the dean, the principal, his parents and brother, his past teachers as well as his current teachers for advice. Nothing seemed to work.

On the first day of school this year, Luis walked into the cafeteria and my stomach lurched. Surprisingly, he walked right up to me and gave me a hug. It occurred to me that I had provided Luis with positive reinforcement just by the fact that I had returned to his school to teach again. A trust had now been established and I decided that this was my chance to start anew with Luis.

I began to publicly recognize little things that he did correctly in class and chose to ignore cries for negative attention. I made Luis the class monitor, which means he is responsible for dismissing students along with other tasks to help me out while I am teaching. He has started to take this position very seriously and he has even started to wear his school uniform. The other day I had what my students and I call a “goose bump moment” when Luis became so interested in a lesson on global warming that he wanted to talk to me about it after class. With Luis in mind, I had a presenter speak to my class about green architecture and at the end of class Luis was convinced that he wanted to be an architect.

Just as I have been learning in my teaching certification classes that it is of utmost importance to differentiate classroom instruction to cater to the needs of different learning modalities, teachers must also understand that some students may need a little more prodding, patience, empathy or attention than other students in the classroom. Like Luis, some students reach out for attention and strive for it even if it results in negative attention. Others are too shy to participate in class, even if they are able to answer the questions.

Being cognizant of my students’ after-school lives and the hardships they face on a daily basis makes my job more challenging but also more rewarding. Building trust accounts for much of my teaching time these days because many of my students lack the supports that were so prevalent in my own childhood.

With Luis’s help, I have come to the understanding that treating all of my students the same way does not translate into treating all of my students fairly.