Jacob

Fresh haircut. Dark colored sweatshirt with a Nike swoosh over his heart. Baggy sweatpants or jeans. He wears a plain black backpack  to class each day, though it never seems to have anything in it, especially not something to write with. But, like most of the other students in class, his iPhone is always ready to go: in his pocket, on his lap, or “hidden” underneath whatever paper or materials we have out for class.

If I get a head nod and a “Hey Miss” as we greet each other at the door, I feel pretty good about what type of day it will be. Otherwise, if it’s a head-down, sunken amble to the back of the room, I know my work is cut out for me. His close friends in the class sense it too. They look out for him and if they know that something is brewing, when I ask what’s up, they say, “Yeah, Miss, you really don’t want to know.”

I’ve heard under-his-breath comments like, “Kick me out. I don’t care. I’ve been arrested before. School is like jail.” Followed by, “It’s because I’m Spanish, right?” But I’ve also seen him raise his hand to be the first to share his Writer’s Notebook response and watched a genuine look of concern flood his face mentioning his “1” on the math NECAP despite how hard he tired and all the time he spends in remediation working on the “modules” (which he says do nothing to prepare him for the test).

I think Ernest Morrell’s equation VALUE (of the task) + EXPECTANCY (of success) = MOTIVATION makes so much sense in the work that I have seen Jacob produce. No matter what type of day he seems to be having, as we move into the “we do” or “you do” part of the lesson, I usually check in with him first individually to reiterate the importance of the work we are doing and remind him that I know he can do it. He usually tries to bargain his way out of whatever we are doing by twisting my words, but as I get up to leave, he groans a bit and eventually begins scribbling away. *I talk about an example of this in my post last week.

Though I get really excited when he participates in class, whether through reading, writing, or sharing his ideas, he seems to have a “one and done” mentality. When we categorized paragraphs from Obama's inauguration speech as examples of "ethos," "pathos," or "logos," he wanted to just glue them on the poster and call it a day. I talked him through an explanation of his resoning, which he was supposed to write on a sticky note, but he resisted. A lot.

 

Since I am still a student myself, the logic makes sense: If it is hard enough to do something once, why make yourself vulnerable by doing it again? It’s scary and takes a lot of energy and confidence. So as I get another week to observe Jacob before I bring his sample work to class on Thursday, I will be keeping Ernest Morell’s proposition in mind: It’s not about changing the student, but about changing the logic.

I know Jacob is capable of being motivated and being successful, whether in my English class or on the math NECAP. What can I do to begin to change the logic in my last four class periods with him at NPHS?