What Students Really Need To Hear

What Students Really Need To Hear

This material is copyright (C) Chase Mielke and AffectiveLiving, 2014. Click here to go to the original source material.

It's 4 a.m. I've struggled for the last hour to go to sleep. But, I can't. Yet again, I am tossing and turning, unable to shut down my brain. Why? Because I am stressed about my students. Really stressed. I'm so stressed that I can only think to write down what I really want to say -- the real truth I've been needing to say -- and vow to myself that I will let my students hear what I really think tomorrow.

This is what students really need to hear:

First, you need to know right now that I care about you. In fact, I care about you more than you may care about yourself. And I care not just about your grades or your test scores, but about you as a person. And, because I care, I need to be honest with you. Do I have permission to be honest with you -- both in what I say and how I say it?

Here's the thing: I lose sleep because of you. Every week.

Before I tell you why, you should understand the truth about school. You see, the main event of school is not academic learning. It never has been. It never will be. And, if you find someone who is passionate in claiming that it is about academics, that person is lying to himself or herself and may genuinely believe that lie. Yes, algebra, essay writing, Spanish, the judicial process -- all are important and worth knowing. But they are not the MAIN event.

The main event is... (for further reading, please click this link to go to the original source material)