A Not So Funny Question

With school winding down, I was able to squeeze in a bit of light reading this weekend. I guess it's a not exactly light reading. Can a book about depression be light?

Ned Vizzini's book It's Kind of a Funny Story is about as close to light as you can get with a story focused on depression. My students finished their EOGs 2 weeks ago. A significant amount of them did not pass and just finished a week of remediation to try and pass again. This set-up reminds me a lot of the high stakes Craig Gilner experiences at Executive Pre-Professional. On the one hand, it's sad to think of the stress and pressure we place on today's youth to "have it all together." At the same time, I have to laugh when I think of Craig's internal monologue where he asks himself, "How can I be so ambitious and lazy at the same time?" That statement reflects a lot of my students. When I talk to them, they all have big dreams. They're convinced that they will be cosmetologists, lawyers, designers and that they will go to these elite private schools. And yet, their work doesn't reflect any of their ambitions.If I bring them missing work to complete so they can raise their grades from an F to a C, they whine and won't do it.

This week will essentially be my last week of after-school programming with the students of Henderson. And really, with Memorial Day and our incentive trip, it's only 2 days. On some level, I think a difference is being made. One of the girls in our Spoken Word apprenticeship had a moving spoken word performance in which she talked about how mistakes and missed signs were learning experiences for her. This girl is one of our tough cases. Sometimes, I don't know whether to just laugh at the absurdity of her disrespect or just shake her into awareness. Most days, it ends up being a large sigh of frustration that I'll laugh about the next day, but still just removes another block of patience in dealing with students. And then, I feel the weight of the task of trying to change the tide for students. This semester has been absolutely exhausting, and when Craig Gilner talks about the "Tentacles," I can feel them.

There's nothing I want more for my kids than for them to realize how much of a difference their attitudes make and for them to experience a shift that will allow them to fully harness their capabilities and be successful. But many days, I just feel as though that message is not getting through and it's getting lost along the way. Where are we missing the mark as educators? From teachers to administrators to supplementary programs, what is the balance between igniting a spark in students and causing them to burn out?

If you're an educator or even just someone who cares about inspiring young people (and not-so-young people), please comment and give your suggestions.

[Okay, so I realized that this is a really depressing sounding post. But I thoroughly enjoyed the book. I just started writing and these thoughts came out first. My next one will focus on the more positive and joyful epiphanies that happened, because it really was a light read for me.]