Waiting

2010 Arizona Teaching Fellow

Kelsey Ahlmark 

Yuma, Arizona

This week I rented the 2010 film, “Waiting for Superman.” Chances are if you are reading this blog you have seen the movie. If you haven’t seen the film, it follows five young students as they take their chances on a lottery in order to gain acceptance into a charter school.

Four of the five students featured in the film are facing tremendous odds: They come from parents who are uneducated themselves and live in impoverished neighborhoods with high crime rates. Despite their surroundings, these students have big goals that center on obtaining a strong education in subjects like math and science. However, by the time these students reach high school the likelihood of them even graduating has dropped tremendously and without a high school diploma (approximately 1.2 million every year) these students will be 8 times more likely to be in prison, 50% less likely to vote, and are ineligible for 90% of jobs.  These aren’t just statistics: these are actual students in schools just like the one I teach at.

These numbers are frightening and outright outrageous, but there is hope. Hope lies in the most important aspect of public education: Effective teachers. Countless studies show that the biggest factor for change is when the teacher is effective at teaching. So, what can I as an educator dedicated to not failing my students do to create a culture of success? I follow three simple rules in my classroom that I work towards meeting everyday:

I set high academic goals and standards - This is my number one commandment for teaching. By putting into place high academic goals and standards I am instilling confidence in my students that they can overcome challenges because they are capable of doing hard things.

I use best practices - Best practices are your bread and butter. Without them, you are blindly choosing activities and practices that are based on chance and not what is proven to help raise achievement.

Lastly, I start everyday with a blank slate for every student - I have students who have done or said something that has caused me to become upset, but my passion for education allows for me to walk in the next day without remembering what happened the day before. This attitude is what allows students to trust me and it builds an appropriate mentor relationship between us.  Maintaining their trust is critical because they are not just "waiting for Superman".  My students are waiting for me.