The Vault presents prior posts from Teach & Serve.
You Can Succeed
Any way we look at the calendar, we must inevitably reach one conclusion: things are winding down on the school year.
It is a time of anticipation. A break is coming. We can almost taste it.
But it can be a time of intense stress for our students. They have much to do and, though their perceptions may not always be accurate, our students can feel that the whole year comes down to the next few weeks, that all they have done all year will not amount to a thing if they do not nail it now. They may feel that the next few weeks are the most critical ones.
While I would be very skeptical of a system or a teacher or a class that backloads everything for students who are not in college to the last few minutes of the year, I know it happens. I know students feel this way.
I know it. You do, too.
Heck, you may agree they should feel this way, that they should be pounding right until the end and that these days should be circled in red.
Fine. Any and all of the above is fine.
But, please, for the love of our students, remind them of this, repeat this, tell them this: “You can succeed.”
It is my hope they have heard this from you in overt and covert ways all year.
They should have.
But now, more than ever, remind them: “You can succeed.”
Your words have power. Your words have meaning.
Your words can change your students’ lives still, even in these last days.