CHAPTER FIVE
Trees and
Kids
Jim Burgett
There is an unusual tree commonly known
as the Chinese Bamboo Tree. It is real. Years ago I heard a speaker talk about
it, using it to make a point. It stuck in my head. I even did some research to
find out if the speaker was blowing smoke and made up the tree. He
didn’t.
The story goes like this. You prepare the
soil, pick the right spot, then plant the Chinese Bamboo Tree. You water it and
wait. But you wait an entire year and nothing appears. No bud, no twig,
nothing. So you keep watering and protecting the area and taking care of the
future plant, and you wait some more. You wait another year and nothing still
happens. Okay, you are a persistent person not prone to giving up, so you keep
on watering. You water, check the soil, start talking to the ground, maybe even
click your heels in some kind of growing dance you read about in the National Geographic. Another year passes
and still no sign of growth.
It has been three years. Should you give up?
Someone told you that it might take a while to really see the fruits of your
efforts, so you keep on keeping on. More water, more talk, more dancing. The
neighbors are wondering. And another year passes. No tree.
You now make a decision. If there is no
tree on this date one year from now you will stop watering. Period. So you
begin year number five with the same passion as day number one. You water, you
wait. You keep watering and keep waiting. You water some more and then, could
it be? Is it really? Yep, there it is, something sticking out of the dirt. You
come back the next day and WOW it has really grown! In fact you come back each
day for about six weeks and finally the Chinese Bamboo tree stops
growing—but it is over 80 feet tall! Yes, 80 feet in six weeks! Well, not
really. It is 80 feet in five years.
The point is simple. If you had given up
for even the shortest period of time, there would be no tree. It took almost
impossible persistence. The Chinese Bamboo tree is there for one reason and one
reason only—because you never gave up on it.
When I talk to teachers at workshops or
institutes I find one who teaches first grade and I ask that person to mentally
think of a student who they wouldn’t mind see moving to another district.
You get the drift, a student who is a real challenge. Let’s give the
student a name. I’ll use my own name to be politically correct. The kid
is named Jim. I ask the teacher if they ever had a student like Jim that they
really worked hard with, tried every trick in the book, searched for new ways
to meet the child’s learning needs, and so on, but still felt that at the
end of the year that Jim had not learned. That Jim was still a challenge, and
although he met the minimum standards to pass, he was not on the teacher’s
list of proudest achievements. Most teachers usually agree that they have, or
had, a Jim in their class.
Now we move to a second grade teacher and
we pretend that they get Jim in the fall, work with him all year, watch their
hair turn from brunette to shades of stressful gray, and by the end of the year
feel they did their best, but it wasn’t good enough.
Now, for a minute, let’s talk about
little Jimmy. He’s not in special ed. Jimmy is just a jerk. Don’t
fall off your chair and gasp, “Did he call that kid a jerk?” I did,
but not the jerk you are thinking of. My JERK is an acronym for Just
Educationally Resistive Kid. He doesn’t have ADD or any other
alphabetized condition. He just doesn’t like to learn and he resists it.
He isn’t a bad kid or a troublemaker. “Jimmys” exist in all
sizes and shapes and even come in girl forms.
Let’s jump to grade three. We have
the same conversation all over again. Jim is passed on but he is a
disappointment to every teacher so far, and they all worry that if things
don’t turn around Jim could become a troublemaker or an academic
disgrace.
Jim holds his own in grade four. No big
changes. He surely doesn’t love school, but he isn’t failing anything.
He exhibits no passion for anything at the schoolhouse. And no signs of any
real change either.
Grade five. Jim has a new teacher and all
the other teachers try to warn her that Jim is, well, how do we say it? Jim is
special, but not special ed. He exists, but barely. He will continue to be a
challenge, but he’s not a threat to safety. Jim is Jim. Try anything, but
nothing will probably work. If you don’t believe me, ask all of his
previous teachers.
At semester break the new teacher makes a
comment about Jim at a teachers meeting. With anticipated sadness, everyone
listens. Here is what she says…
“Jim is quite a writer. He turned
in a couple of stories and I told him he was very creative. He is now writing a
mystery story and it is good! And he’s also showing some talent in
basketball. He’s really growing too. I love his passion to play ball and
write. He seems to thrive on the success of his hook shot and his imagination.
I really enjoy that kid.” Jim has arrived!
Was it the new teacher who pulled out
Jim’s hidden talents and secret love for learning? Was it some biological
change that caused Jim to mature and become a better learner, a more serious
student? Was it his physical abilities that expanded his self-esteem and made
it easier for him to write?
Maybe it was a little of all these
things, but it was also what I call the Chinese Bamboo Factor. Every teacher
Jim had since he entered school worked hard providing opportunities for Jim to
learn, to grow, and to become. Every teacher watered, fertilized, and cared for
Jim. Even when the year ended and they were sometimes glad to pass him on to
another teacher, they still knew that they had done their best to give him the best.
Oh, by the way, my story could stop and
start at any grade. And Jim could be Janet, and the teacher could be a he
rather than a she. It doesn’t matter. What does matter is the Chinese
Bamboo Factor—never, ever quit on a student. Even when you see no
progress, it doesn’t mean that the kid isn’t processing something
somehow somewhere.
One more thing, a big thing: the Chinese
Bamboo Tree did start to grow very shortly after the seed was planted. The
roots grew deep and strong for many years before there was any sign of a plant
above ground. Sometimes that same thing happens with kids. They develop a foundation
of learning. They learn to learn. They creep along doing the minimum, building
their strengths (or finding them), and sometimes they just wait for the right
combination of factors before they bloom. It may be the motivation of a certain
teacher or a new found confidence or skill. It may be that all of a sudden “they
get it” and learning becomes exciting. If we knew exactly what the
formula was and how it worked for everyone, we could probably cure the ills of
the world.
So what do we learn from the Chinese
Bamboo Tree? I’d suggest the following:
* It takes patience to teach some, even
most, kids.
* When you give up on a kid, you give up
a human being.
* Even when you don’t see progress,
if you do your best, it is probably happening.
* If something doesn’t work with a
kid, try something else—but never quit trying.
* Some of our best teaching doesn’t
“break soil” until all conditions are right.
* When you think you are growing a tree,
you may be growing a root.
* Strong roots support strong trees.
*
Sometimes it takes a lot of patience to change a life.
[Editor’s
commentary: Jim shares the “150 ways…” at the end of the
chapters, each preceded by an u.
In truth, Jim gives 175+ ways.]
u If you sense they haven’t learned
the topic of the day, don’t move on. If you are not sure, assess their
learning before advancing. If they haven’t mastered the topic, it may not
be them, it may be the way you are teaching.
u Write a note or have a personal
conference about behavior issues. Sometimes the written word has more impact.
If you have a conference, ask “What can I do to help you?” If you
write a note, always point out something good. It helps to mention how proud
you are of the student when they do what is right.
u Remember that students have bad days
too. One teacher, at the beginning of the year, tells her students to notify
her at the start of the hour if they don’t feel well or are just having a
bad day. It won’t happen as often as you think but it just may open a
doorway for conversation and an opportunity to provide much needed assistance.
u Utilize peer tutors and peer counseling
across grade level lines. Don’t be afraid to cross the ill-fated building
barriers (high school kids helping at the middle school, MS kids working with
grade school students, etc.). Kids helping kids is almost always a win-win-win
situation. The kids, at both levels, win. You certainly win.
u Always make an effort to challenge every
ability level in every class. Make sure the low-motivated students are called
on and challenged. It is best to tailor their questions to foster success. Make
sure you give enough time to answer. And, of course, give each student an
appropriate positive response. If you don’t know, or remember, the
correct way to ask questions and solicit responses, ask that a review of this
important subject be conducted at a faculty meeting or in-service.
u Provide services for every student. Let
them know they will participate in special programs. Here are some examples:
Grades K-4: Self-Esteem Team, “Here’s Looking at You,” or PeaceBuilders;
Grade 5: Dare; Grades 6-8: Teacher/Advisor Program; Grades 9+: LINK, Lifesavers,
or SADD.
u Use your school’s strengths, not
weaknesses. If your school is small, involve as many as possible in
co-curricular activities. Plays, for instance, should have 40 people in them
instead of one; teams should have five scorekeepers, 15 cheerleaders, etc. If
you can’t offer 15 sports, then get as many involved in the four that you
do offer.
u Have school-wide special events like
spirit days, happy daze week, homecoming week, election week, environment week,
etc. One school in our area celebrates the anniversary every year of when they
went from being a junior high to a middle school. Classrooms can do the same
thing with a week-long “special” topic.
u “Faith is the confident assurance
that something we want is going to happen. It is the certainty that what we
hope for is waiting for us, even though we cannot see it up ahead,”
Hebrews 11:6. Never lose faith in a student. Never lose your own faith.
u Of all the “R’s” you
teach, none is more important than responsibility.
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