Never Give Up on a Child

It's early yet, but I have one student who spent most of the class with his head down or once I got his head raised, he was doodling or staring into space. This continued for 3/4 of the first quarter. Then, one day, I thanked him for volunteering to be a team leader on a project. Of course, this got laughs--including from him--and he passed on the leadership role, but he started to participate in class. The more he participated, naturally, the better his grades and the more positive attention he got from his peers. By the time BAT 2 testing came around, he was earning a B for the 2nd quarter and his score increased we over 40 points! While still shy, he continues to participate in class, smiles a lot now and gets more A's than B's lately. I expect a really great improvement on his FCAT!

Candace McKinniss, Bair Middle