My first recollection of the student that I will call Turhan Drake was back in October. It was brought to my attention that the student had not been completing work. He was failing Math, Science, Language Arts, Social Studies, and all of his electives. I thought to myself, "not the electives too." In many cases, students find joy in their electives. They tend to put more effort and energy into their elective courses. However, Turhan was doing nothing.
After many attempts, I finally got his mother on the phone.
Me- "Hello Ms. Drake? This is Ms. Johnson the Middle School Principal."
Ms. Drake- "I'm at work! I gotta go."
Me- "I understand. When is a better time for you to talk?"
Ms. Drake- "Uh... I get off at 10 am call me back then."
There was a dial tone and then silence. I immediately thought to myself that this was going to be a tough case. I am always up for a good challenge.
I called his mother back and asked if she was aware that her son was failing everything. She shared with me that he had moved out of her house and was staying with a family member that didn't value education. She had almost given up on her son. I asked her if she could get him on the phone to talk to me. She assured me that she would get him to talk to me the next day on the phone.
The next day I called Turhan on his cell phone that his mother had purchased for him. I asked him where he was, and he said that he was staying with a relative. I wanted to ask him why so badly, but for some reason, I just knew that he wasn't ready to share any information with me. He spoke in a monotone voice and answered my questions with one-word answers. I wasn't daunted. We talked about why he wasn't doing his work, what subjects he liked and disliked, and what he needed to do to get back on track. I hung up the phone believing that we had a solid plan.
One week later I wanted to check on his progress and to my surprise, he hadn't done anything. No lessons in any of his classes. I waited until after to 10 and called his mother again. She was very frustrated and began to cry. "Ms. Johnson, I don't know what to do," I asked if she could let him know that I wanted to speak to him again. This time I decided to video conference him. I needed to see his face, and I needed him to see my face. I wanted him to understand that I really cared. We met on a video conferencing call. However, I couldn't get my camera to work. In cyber education, sometimes, something as small as the students being able to see you can make a difference. I attempted to set up a schedule for him and extra resources to work with a tutor. Needless to say, nothing changed with his work.
I called his mother again and by now she was willing to share more of his story. After hearing all of the struggles that this young man had gone through I knew that I couldn't give up. Instead, it made me want to dig my heels in even more. It made me want to help him understand that all people will not abandon him the way that his father had. It made me want to work that much harder to connect him with positive role models. Turhan was at a crossroads in his life. Either he was going to choose his education, or he was going to choose the streets. This time I scheduled a home visit. Home visits by the principal are not common in the world of cyber education, but something had to be done.
Two days before my visit I checked on Turhan's grades. To my amazement, he had brought up his grades in all of his courses except math and science. I was elated to see him working. I was also frustrated that he did not work in his other classes. I pulled up to his home for our scheduled meeting. I realized that this student lived 10 minuted from my childhood home. When I entered his home he was working on assignments. He told me that he couldn't believe that I was at his home. I shared with him that I wasn't going to give up on him. I honestly wanted to see him do his best work. He told me that he loved a challenge and that is why he had started doing his work. He said that he wanted to show me that he could do it.
Sometimes that is all it takes for students to turn their progress around. The need to know that someone is pulling for them. They need to know that someone believes in them. I am not going to give up on this student. He represents every young minority inner-city kid that is looking for a better education. I'm never going to give up.
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