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It is tempting to judge students as not serious about their learning, particularly
when they lie about their absences or failure to complete assignments. Knowing
more about survival strategies students have learned may support teachers to
understand students' choices and avoid deciding that students simply don't care
when they continue to use these survival strategies in school.
Counselling supports need to be easily, and confidentially, accessible for
students and teachers alike. Where there is access to supports and everyone is
familiar with and able to trust available resource people, students and teachers
will be more likely to be able to understand their own and each other's
struggles, and to focus on respectful connection to support learning.
Build Hope
[Teachers] took the time to get to know who I was. They didn't see me
as some girl that needed to be pitied. They saw that I had so much
potential and so much to offer, and they tried to harvest that
potential. They encouraged me to be the best that I could be despite
my circumstances.
Everybody comes from different walks of life. Sure, you may have a
couple of people who are being bullied in your classroom; you can't
treat them as one person. Everybody has individual circumstances
and histories, and so you should try to cater to those people. To work
one-on-one with them, and not to-it's not about solving their
problems, but to continually encourage them. Treat them as an
individual, and not as "somebody who's being bullied." (Susan)
Over and over again, students described occasions where a teacher had helped
them hold onto hope, build their confidence and believe they could learn.
Showing people small things, telling them "good job" when they do
something. Not telling somebody "you can't do that." ...keep up that
type of confidence in them so that they can do it, if they set their
mind to it. (Marcus)
Like the student quoted above, many argued that encouragement was the most
important single factor in supporting students' ability to learn.
As another student said:
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