Play the Game
quiet in their disengagement, I could urge them to get on task
and remind them of how failing to do the work would affect
their grades. If those tactics failed, I could call their homes.
Neither the culture of the school nor the culture of the
community challenged my assumption that what I was
offering would be meaningful to all students.
My current students, on the other hand, don’t play the
game of school. They do not suffer fools gladly and they do
not offer strangers the benefit of the doubt. They broadcast
their disengagement through either words or actions.
A typical class: Angie, Shauna, and Sabrina text their
friends rather than focusing on the reading. Ian draws in his
composition book. Nicholas does not even bother to take out
his composition book; he just watches Ian draw. I call for the
students to join me in the meeting area at the front of the class
for instruction, but they stay at their desks on the opposite
end of the room, as far away from me as possible. When I do
manage to gather them for instruction, Donny interrupts after
just a few minutes with, “This is stupid!” I carry on. Lexi rolls
her eyes and sighs loudly. Carlos says, “Can’t we just go back
to our desks? This is boring.”
Although such classroom behaviors are challenging, they
also present an opportunity. The fact that my students don’t
even attempt to hide their lack of interest forces me to face it
head on. If a particular assignment or activity is not mean-
ingful to my students, they won’t do it. I don’t mean that
they have to think it’s fun. They want to learn, but they
want to learn things that matter and in ways that matter
to them.
no connection, however, between her own reading and
writing and what happened in school. I spent a lot of time
thinking about Alexandra and how I could help her to find
meaning in her education. I fought my urge to insist that she
“get to work” and instead tried to get to know her.
This approach with Alexandra reflected a shift in my stance
as a teacher. When I first encountered my students’ widespread disengagement and outright hostility toward me and
“I Know What to Do”
Because they have been unsuccessful in school for so
long, many of these students don’t think they are
smart. Others do realize they’re smart, but they feel
no connection to school. One of my students,
Alexandra, would spend the entire 100 minutes of
the class period reading a book. She could speak
and write insightfully about what she read. When
she wasn’t reading, Alexandra wrote poetry. She saw
