Individual students can make a big difference

If you’ve ever doubted the power of an individual to make a difference, ask any teacher. I’m not talking about the teacher’s power to make a difference – although every teacher is, in a sense, the center of the classroom solar system.

Rather, I’m talking about individual students and their impact on a class. Every student is a planet bringing his own atmosphere and gravity to the room with him, pulling or pushing against every other planet there. Take one planet away, shift one planet into another orbit, and the entire solar system wobbles in a different direction.

Balancing the needs of individual students against the needs of the class as a whole is one of the most difficult challenges facing a teacher. Class size matters. So do disabilities or language deficits or the pernicious effects of poverty. Disadvantaged students can be successful, but only if their teachers have time and resources to address their individual needs while providing a safe, caring, engaging place to learn.

As first semester ends in my school district, I’ve been thinking about the influence of individual students in the community of a classroom. My high school follows a block schedule, with students taking four courses first semester and then changing to different classes second semester. This week I’ve been giving exams and saying reluctant farewells to students I may never see again. Next week I’ll meet my new students.

I’m lucky that I know many of them already. My seniors taking Advanced Studies in English first semester take Advanced Placement English second semester, so I actually teach them all year. This year so many signed up for the course that I have two sections. Both are small enough that the students and I literally circle our desks like planets in an orbit and engage in Socratic discussions using literature to explore the great questions of humanity – what is truth, for instance, or what makes an action evil? The discussions are lively and every student, even the most introverted, has to participate.

Instead of being the sun at the center of the action, I’m the rogue planet that sweeps by and throws my students out of kilter, a devil’s advocate who asks them to rethink assumptions and support their assertions. I measure success by the number of students who say, “Thinking this hard is making my head hurt!”

Although the two sections have the same curriculum and assessments, because they are made up of unique individuals interacting and influencing each other, the classes are very different. Each class is like a separate family, with personal histories and insular loyalties. Second block thinks of itself as the more serious of the two. During an activity to exemplify greatness, they nominated Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai. Third block, touting their creativity, put the cartoon character Spongebob on their list.

Next semester some of the students in each section are being moved. When they realized that the rosters will change, each class was bereft. They've worked side by side on projects and as debate partners. They know whose comments in discussions are always thoughtful and who tends to be, well, a Spongebobber.

I have faith that my students will adjust – after some initial grief and awkwardness. They know as well as anyone that they aren’t isolated learners but citizens of a community larger than themselves. Finding a way to build new communities – navigating that change with grace and resilience – won't be easy, but it might turn out to be one of the best lessons they learn this year.

This story was originally published January 20, 2016 at 5:35 PM with the headline "Individual students can make a big difference."