The Truth

Ask a teacher to list the needs of a successful learner – the essentials that must be in place for learning to take place – in a prioritized list.  No doubt the order of needs would vary depending on the grade level taught, and perhaps be influenced by subject matter.  It is safe to assume, though, that most lists would include engaging lessons, safe environment, high expectations, regular attendance, classroom control, highly qualified teacher, and parental involvement.  Tough to argue the inclusion of any one of those needs; picking the most important would be tough as well.

Ask this teacher for the same list and you would find one additional need near the top of the list that too few educators provide to students:  the truth.  Students need to hear the truth and they need to hear it every day.  Be it for strengths or weaknesses, work performance, social skills, hygiene – my students get the truth from me clearly, concisely, and consistently.

Today was the first meeting of our second semester Tier 3 reading class.  These gatherings, called WIN (What I Need) time, occur every day for the first and second graders of our K-2 school and will be the topic of a future post.  The students who come to my classroom (this year known as Mudville….another post) for Tier 3 reading support know exactly why they come; they are the worst readers in each grade level.  Most of the kids in each WIN group are the same students we worked with in first semester, when they were honestly told they might end up being in the class all year.  I do not belittle, condescend, or mock their struggles...I don’t spin or sugarcoat them either.  Neither approach is more or less dangerous than the other.

To improve self, one must first know self.  Students need to know who they are, what they are, what they can do, and what they stink at.  Introspection and self-analysis cannot be lit like a match, especially with the youngest students in our schools.  Studying self is no different than studying math or science; to study a subject one must be taught the subject.  We cannot expect reading instruction to have meaning if “self” instruction has not been provided first.  So provide it, I do.  Blunt, it is.  Hurtful, it is not.

Back to our WIN class.  In September our WIN students found out they were chosen for a daily trip to Mudville because they were “bad readers”, “the worst readers in first or second grade”.  I can hear you wincing.  Please comment below if you have a better description for the kids who had the lowest word per minute scores in each grade level…using language a September first grader can understand.  Guess what? Nobody cried.  Nobody complained.  Everyone understood.  Today when those same kids told me they were still in the class because they were still bad readers they got more truth – they are not bad readers anymore (they can all read!) but they still are the worst readers in the grade, so they still have a lot of work to do.  We talked about their improvements, we compared their scores to the winter targets and the spring targets, and I emphasized the enormous job we have ahead of us to meet those spring targets.  Nobody cried.  Nobody complained.  Kids are tough – in many ways tougher than most teachers when it comes to accepting the truth.

Too many teachers, and parents, avoid telling kids the truth about poor performances or traits.   We do an extreme disservice to our kids if we tell them only the good stuff or only what they want to hear.  Helping a child understand his weaknesses and his strengths will lead to greater knowledge than he who knows only his strengths.  When we understand our limits we create the power to overcome them.  The truth doesn’t just set you free, it sets you up – for success.