Help Them Believe
Following is a true story from an experience one of our True North Americorps Members, Genesis, had at their site with the Duluth Community School Collaborative. With academic support, positive self talk, and creative approaches to teaching, Genesis helped this struggling student achieve a passing grade in Math. Nice work Genesis, and thanks for sharing this story!
It was my first two weeks in school when I started to increase my tasks and getting to know more students. It was very noticeable and a lot of them were struggling academically and lacking from connections. I was eager to start helping. In the very first day of Homework Club, I started walking around the room asking students if they needed help when I heard a girl saying, “I do not get it. I hate Math. I am so dumb.” Immediately I excuse myself with the student that I was talking to and went to see what was going on.
I sat down in the table that she was sitting with her friend and asked them their names and if they needed help. One of the two students said, “We are fine. She is just dumb and does not understand the class.” I breathe deeply and clarify to her that we all have different ways to learn and maybe she just needed some extra support. The student that needed the support was laughing with sadness while I was talking to the other girl, so I decided to include her directly into the conversation.
I ask her to come with me to the board so she grabbed her homework and came without complaining. I first told her that her brain was really powerful and was going to do whatever she told her too so I told her to said out loud, “I am smart.” Once she said it we started working with the math assignment. I started to write the equations on the board and some drawing, but I still saw some confusion in her eyes. That is when I decided to do some examples using association with markers and erasers. Her attitude completely changed and her ability to solve the equations improve.
By the next week, one of the staff of the building contacted me to give the student day-school support. So every two times a week I meet with her always telling her that she was smart and she had to start believing in herself. I started to give her some study skill techniques and mentoring her towards acquiring her academic goals. By the end of the 1st quarter, the student’s grade in Math went from an F to a C.
–Genesis, True North Americorps Member with the Duluth Community School Collaborative
This organization has changed my life, it introduced me to my own community and I still love to volunteer my free time reading with students at Bayview elementary school Proctor.