In all my 26 years of education, 2024-2025 was by far the most difficult. I am not one to complain about my students, however last year was rough. I was ready to quit or take a leave of absence. I especially noticed a phenomenon that I hadn’t experienced before. I witnessed my group of students being judged before they walked through my doors.
To remind you, I teach 6th grade at an elementary school. By the time the students get to me, some have been at the school for 7 years. Once in 6th grade, the students usually have a swagger, attitude, and a misunderstanding that they have everything figured out. They are still children figuring out life.
Before the school year began, I got numerous warnings about certain students. One teacher, a friend of mine, saw my class list and told me that I got “dumped on”. I went to my principal (to advocate for myself) and requested that she look at my roster again. She actually moved one child to the other class. Did I have that many high fliers that would cause me issues?
The answer was YES!
One student started telling lies to his mother. His mother accused me of making her son do something that I didn’t do. I started documenting every conversation, every interaction, as well as saved all of this student’s work. Come November, he decides to knock on my neighbor’s door, lie about it (even though we had him on camera) and then scream obscenities to me. Luckily the principal supported me and got him thrown out of the district. I have never had such an extreme case as this child who lied, but with a parent who didn’t believe a word I would say (even though I had witnesses). Turns out, he had similar interactions at the 3 other schools he’d been at in the past year.
I had 2 other students who got suspended twice. Fighting, vaping, bullying, etc. District personnel pulled one student’s intra-district permit and he left in February. The other student stayed through the year, however I didn’t allow him to go on one field trip unless his parents escorted him. The other parent volunteers were relieved to see that he didn’t show up.
It was difficult to establish an environment of trust and honesty. My guard was constantly up and I felt like I was walking on eggshells. I never knew what to expect with each passing day. And of course, I felt for the other students who were genuinely good and wanted to do their best. I felt distracted by trying to control all the chaos of the bad behaviors.
As the year wore on though, the rest of the teachers didn’t want to give any opportunities to the 6th graders. During one staff meeting, I had to advocate for my students, saying that “one bad apple doesn’t spoil the whole bunch.” One teacher said she felt shame after my words.
As the 185 school days lagged on, I kept asking myself these questions.
- Is it fair to prejudge students before meeting them?
- Is it fair to continue judging students after they have left our classrooms?
- Will the students’ reputation follow them year after year?
- Is it fair to judge a student based on their parents and their reputation?
I make it a point in my career and my personal life not to judge people. It’s not fair. In seeing/hearing other teachers automatically judge based on my class’s reputation, I felt for my students. No matter how many positive affirmations or coaching sessions I had with them….sometimes it didn’t matter. I couldn’t change their choices. Unfortunately they fell victim to their pasts.
Until next time,
Kristen