Book Club

For my book club, I read The New Kids: Big Dreams and brave Journeys at a High School for Immigrant Teens by Brooke Hauser. It's a beautiful narrative of the lives of students and teachers at an international high school in New York. This whole book had a lot of important and difficult issues that it dealt with. These students have incredible stories about how they got to America and how they are trying to make sense of who they are, where they came from, and how they fit into this new place.

Disruptions
Because of the difficult nature of many of the issues these students face, it was hard to separate the disruptions I had from just the circumstances of these students. One that was difficult for me was something the English teacher said. She said that sometimes, the less you know about a students' circumstances and home life, the better. When she starts learning about their lives and their hardships, she's more likely to make excuses for them. She doesn't want to make excuses for them. That idea is so hard for me because I believe that knowing and understanding your students is important for being able to teach to their needs. But how do we get to know them if we don't come to understand their circumstances? How do we try to meet them where they are without compromising expectations?

Aspects of Class
So many of these stories deal with issues of language, culture, race, ethnicity, religion, poverty, and a mix of them all. The very first story is a great illustration of language issues. She's the only person who speaks her language at the school. She knows a little bit of English, but not enough to do much. She gets by with some gestures and finally gets to her first class. Her teacher gives her a paper with three columns: words I don't know, words I kind of know, words I know. She sits in class the whole period, unable to access anything that's happening. At the end of class, her paper is still blank. Eventually, every student gets to a point that they can understand things pretty will, but it's so difficult.

Teachers
I think this book has really just inspired me to to try my best with every student I have. There is always going to be things to complicate things, but it's so important to be truly invested in ones students.