Michael Fullan penned the quote “A crisis without a strategy is a recipe for random action and growing frustration.” This advice is now printed above my desk in my office and will continue to guide my decisions. Reeves would also agree, “we are ultimately better served by acknowledging our weaknesses and confronting them.” Good, bad, and ugly – we need a plan to move forward. This is not the time to hide behind problems outside of our control. We need to address the elephant(s) in the room. Educators cannot call poverty a crisis and “mom blame” the issues as a rationale not to take action. We need to address OUR weaknesses in reaching these families, develop a strategy, and create affirmative, sustaining action.
How? That takes differing viewpoints to sit at a table and put all ideas out for discussion. It takes learning about our kids. Learn about the families. Learn about our community. Educate teachers on ACES, poverty, and implicit bias. We need the most dynamic, caring individuals in front of our most challenging students. Content knowledge of teachers is second – if we cannot get our kids to realize we care, the fascinating lesson will be meaningless. Having a tough kid means we, educators, have to work to address our weakness in reaching that student. The weaknesses of students and families are our problems to action plan for. We cannot blow these families off as unreachable and not worth the effort.