When Students Vent...

When students have a hard time, it can be difficult to tell. Some kids you can read like a book. They wear their emotions on their faces. Others are tougher to read since they either don't have much to show for how they feel.

I ran into one of our freshmen students who was wearing that face like she had a pretty miserable first week or school. We've spoken on a few occasions about various topics and it was a bit surprising to see her down like she was.

I asked her if she was alright. She was reluctant at first and said that she was fine. I asked if she was sure and she said yeah so I went into the conference room to grade all these damn tests my students took this past week. As I was grading, this student came in and started talking about her getting suspended and how she was having an awful week.

It's interesting when you see a different side of some of these kids. Many of them are unfairly labeled. This particular student has had principal suspensions twice already but it's more because she's been caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. I shared my stories of first days of school since all my first days of school are always nightmares so that cheered her up a bit. She doesn't like our principal very much, needless to say, but I supposed he's not a person to be liked by any of our students.

There isn't enough time for us to listen to our kids. I know that not every student needs mentoring but that spontaneous moment of crisis is all it takes to throw some students into an emotional abyss. I had students last year who were emotionally overwhelmed and resorted to serious cutting. One admitted attempts at suicide and was mandated to in-patient care at a hospital.

Students may create a lot of drama in their social lives but that also means that they tolerate a lot of drama as well. Even if we see it as unproductive or meaningless socialization, it's everything to them. That's all that matters. Until they change their priorities, we must live with that reality that their lives don't revolve around their education. Their lives revolve around what happens at school.