Yesterday many of my techie friends attended the NETA 2011 conference. One of the posts tweeted during the day was about writing a postcard to a “headache” student over the summer. I asked my good friend Ann what would she write as an example to one of these students. She in turn sent me a link to her blog about how she worked with some tough students. It wasn’t exactly the answer I was looking for, but it did give me an idea.
Let me start by saying that I am not a big fan of feeding kids. Most students at my current school are well provided for and since obesity is prevalant around us, and kids don’t make good food choices at lunch (I’ll have a double order of fries with my pizza please) I can’t deal well with bringing in donuts or other bad foods to school.
However, I have been tutoring several kids lately in the mornings. This morning I had some extra time, so I scrounged through my cupboard and found a chocolate chip muffin mix and in the fridge there was a tube of cinnamon rolls. I had some extra time this morning (that’s a different blog) so I baked both items. When I got to school earlier than normal, the muffins and rolls were still deliciously warm.
To my disappointment, only one student showed up. But, it was the one student I was hoping that would show up because I had been a little tough on him the previous day. We had made amends before leaving school yesterday, but I felt that I needed to do something out of the ordinary. When he showed up, I pulled out the warm baked goods, and explained that these were for the students that showed up for tutoring. His eyes got real big and he smiled; but the next question from him was “what are you going to do with the leftovers since I am the only one here?” I told him there might not be leftovers because these were all for him today. He helped himself to a second helping and was perfectly content. He completed his math assignment with ease.
I enjoy baking because I think it allows a person to express emotion, whether it be love for a family member or kindness to a student. Something about the scent of warm cinnamon rolls can also change an environment and in my case, from being the math classroom to an inviting place to work and enjoy. I’m still working on my postcard not to this student but to the student that didn’t come in for the cinnamon rolls. But maybe the word will spread even though we are in our last weeks of school. And who knows, maybe that will be a tradition that these students talk about with incoming students as well.
Let me start by saying that I am not a big fan of feeding kids. Most students at my current school are well provided for and since obesity is prevalant around us, and kids don’t make good food choices at lunch (I’ll have a double order of fries with my pizza please) I can’t deal well with bringing in donuts or other bad foods to school.
However, I have been tutoring several kids lately in the mornings. This morning I had some extra time, so I scrounged through my cupboard and found a chocolate chip muffin mix and in the fridge there was a tube of cinnamon rolls. I had some extra time this morning (that’s a different blog) so I baked both items. When I got to school earlier than normal, the muffins and rolls were still deliciously warm.
To my disappointment, only one student showed up. But, it was the one student I was hoping that would show up because I had been a little tough on him the previous day. We had made amends before leaving school yesterday, but I felt that I needed to do something out of the ordinary. When he showed up, I pulled out the warm baked goods, and explained that these were for the students that showed up for tutoring. His eyes got real big and he smiled; but the next question from him was “what are you going to do with the leftovers since I am the only one here?” I told him there might not be leftovers because these were all for him today. He helped himself to a second helping and was perfectly content. He completed his math assignment with ease.
I enjoy baking because I think it allows a person to express emotion, whether it be love for a family member or kindness to a student. Something about the scent of warm cinnamon rolls can also change an environment and in my case, from being the math classroom to an inviting place to work and enjoy. I’m still working on my postcard not to this student but to the student that didn’t come in for the cinnamon rolls. But maybe the word will spread even though we are in our last weeks of school. And who knows, maybe that will be a tradition that these students talk about with incoming students as well.
