For as much as a sense of community is needed for a rich, transformative educational environment, I am aware that there will always be resisters. These are students who, despite our best efforts, simply refuse to join the community. There may be many different reasons for their resistance. And the truth is, discovering the reason is not always necessary or important. And despite our own wishes to have everyone included, community does not happen when it is forced upon people. On a certain level, I understand the nature of a classroom will always include a type of involuntary participation in community and that it will always feel a little contrived, maybe even forced. Yet there is a distinction between a classroom where conditions are created for students to more willingly join into community, and one where students are coerced into group action.
For those who resist, careful consideration is needed to engage the students and help them to be successful in whatever ways we can. As we speak, I have two sections of Co-Taught English 9 classes where we have a higher percentage of students on IEPs. Between the two sections, I have three firm resisters. These are students who will generally opt out of all large and small group activities. One will just as likely choose to sit on the floor along the outside wall, as she is to sit in her seat. One will not return to class after lunch on most days. And one escapes into her phone, refusing to put it away, or when told to do so, will tell us that she will put her phone away but will not do anything beyond that.
In my younger days, these instances would generally escalate, if not on a daily basis then slowly over the course of a term when my patience would grow ever thinner with their choices.
While I still worry about these students, my approach has definitely changed over time. The “my-way-or-the-highway” approach will not work. Resistors will either double down on their original choice, or become ever more resentful of your intrusion. This is not to say that I am a push over. Again, my goal is, as Ed Moore suggests, to become a warm demander. Here are a few thoughts to help navigate resistors.
Pulling in the Dissenter. Working with strong willed students requires creativity and time. For starters, I will often do what I can to establish a relationship with the individual outside of class. This might mean a visit to their study hall or a walk-n-talk between classes or even a letter or email where we can connect. I am always surprised by how willingly many of these students will enter into a conversation with me in the hopes that things might improve. In some cases, I will actually make a point to visit the student once a week. It sets a precedence where they know I am coming to check in on them, to give them both praise and correction.
Take What They Can Give. This can be a dangerous mindset for me. Teachers who lower their expectations too much run the risk of never challenging students at all. This is where I have to work especially hard with other people in the students’ lives who can better gauge what is an acceptable expectation versus one that might be too easy or too difficult. From case managers to co-teachers to parents and guardians, I am constantly triangulating the data I collect in my personal interactions with information I am getting from these other supportive adults.
Leave the Door Open. Part of our jobs as teachers is to have hope even when the student may not. This can be exceedingly difficult in week ten of the term, when you can see nothing but “zeros” in the gradebook and carry a long list of offenses and insults that have been directly aimed at you. Leaving the door open requires a considerable amount of fortitude, maybe as much fortitude as it takes students who regularly experience trauma to come to school each day. I am constantly trying to find ways to let individuals know that they are still a part of our community, even if they spend a lot of energy trying to resist it. It is a gentle “hello” as they enter the room. Or it might be a little post it note that I drop off. It could be a nod of the head. It’s a willingness to both be firm, and to give them space, but to always let them know that they have a place in your class.
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