You know who they are, those students who just seem to breeze through school.
It’s not that they don’t struggle or stumble or make mistakes. It’s that they have the tools to overcome, get back up and learn how to right their ship.
Yes, remote learning was hard on everyone. But now, everyone is back. And among the most excited about that are teachers.
I asked some of those education enthusiasts for advice on having the best possible school experience.
“It’s very energetic at Naperville North right now,” said Emily Bishop, who teaches Spanish 2 and 3 at the Naperville high school.
Bishop and other teachers have some words of advice for students and parents on how to make the most of the school experience. It begins with a positive attitude, which Bishop said many teachers try to model.
“What I love about education is there’s a start and a stop. There’s a crescendo. You learn something. You stop and reflect. Then you take a long break and start again,” she said. “Of all the professions out there, this one has a lot of blessings.”
Bishop said the kids who have good communication skills and who approach school in an open and welcoming manner tend to do well.
“I love it when they come in ready, open to new ideas and new people,” she said.
Each new year starts with a lot of ice breakers to help kids get to know each other, she said.
“We want a comfort level in the classroom so that even the shyest kids feel welcome. We want each student to have a place to belong, to feel important,” she said.
Despite adhering to a rigorous curriculum, Bishop said many teachers provide time for making human connections.
“Most Fridays I have each kid talk about the highlight of the week. It cannot be performance based but can be about school. It’s something they saw, heard, felt or experienced that was positive for them,” she said.
“It reminds all of us that good things are happening. It’s a way to be grateful,” she said.
Parents can be helpful by also encouraging their kids to be open and flexible.
“And by reminding them to stay off their phones during class. That has been a major issue these past two years,” Bishop said.
“Phones area a huge distraction that prevent kids from focusing in class,” she said.
It’s important to distinguish learning from grades, too, she said. As thrilling as it may be to get an A or B, the greater goal is to learn the material, she said.
“You get into the real world and nobody asks about your grade point average, nobody asks you what school you went to,” she said. “They want to know if you are confident in your communication skills and your ability to handle the job.”
Confidence, said Brian Klaft, is a big key to success.
Klaft teaches eighth-grade science at Granger Middle School in Aurora.
“A lot of confidence building starts at home with routines. Students I’ve seen who are really successful have realistic expectations. They know their abilities,” he said.
Families with realistic expectations tend to have lots of confidence, he said.
“That’s all school really is, going through all these activities and experiences to grow your confidence, so you know you can learn, you know you can overcome, you know you can succeed,” Klaft said.
Insisting every assignment and every class culminate in a high grade can be detrimental, he said. “The best way to ruin an education is to rush it,” he said.
Remote learning was difficult because kids were disassociated with peers and teachers, he said. They had a hard time feeling successful.
Kids, he said, need a chance to be successful every day.
And success often starts with a stumble, he said. “Because overcoming a misstep is a huge confidence builder,” he said.
“We’ve trained our kids over the years to think they’ve never been wrong. That is not reality. You’re a better learner after adversity,” he said.
“Falling down is not a problem,” he said. “Because it teaches you how to get up.”
Klaft said parents can help their kids by establishing a solid routine that includes both fun and family time to connect.
“Whether you’re urban, suburban, rural, everybody’s busy. Still, it’s important to have a routine kids can rely on,” he said.
Routines bring comfort, he said. “My best classes are the ones where kids will take academic risks, ask questions, try new things. Kids who are comfortable are more apt to do that.”
A big disruptor to that comfort, he said, is social media. “It falls outside of the routine because it’s so instantaneous,” he said.
One way to build resilience in kids, Klaft said, is to have family dinners.
Get together, talk to each other, support each other, he said. Social media has taken the normalcy out of communication. Parents have to put it back into their kids’ lives.
Kids whose home life is more chaotic, Mikala Thompkins said, need encouragement to keep their eyes on the prize.
Thompkins, an instructional coach and English teacher at Dwight D. Eisenhower High School in Blue Island, said the most successful students have learned to see hurdles and obstacles as an opportunity.
“The pandemic hit so fast. It was very hard. And the only thing many kids had was school,” she said. “But the kids who believed that they could overcome did the best.”
They built resilience, she said.
Just like in adult life, there are hurdles, she said. “In life, you’re always going to face some kind of challenge. How do you handle it? Give up or persevere and find a way to overcome?”
The ones who persevere fair better, she said.
Thompkins said parents do not have to be versed in an academic subject to help their child. “They just need to foster a resilient mindset. They can say, ‘I see you’re struggling but let’s solve this. Is there something else you can try?'”
And, she added, if they get stuck, teach them to ask for help.
Thompkins also believes family connection is an important component in a child’s academic success.
Unfortunately, she said, some students go home to an empty house because many parents are working. And some students are working jobs to help support the family or they are helping raise their siblings.
“But if they have the opportunity to connect with a parent, enough for a parent to say, ‘Hi, I see you, I notice you,’ that can have an impact,” she said.
“I work with kids who have been dealt a tough hand at home. I remind them that even though things are not fair, their parents are doing their best and they need to do their part. They need to push hard for themselves so they can have something better when they grow up,” she said.
“They need to remind themselves of the importance of having a strong education because that can lead to more opportunities,” she said.
“And opportunity is what life is all about.”
Donna Vickroy is an award-winning reporter, editor and columnist who worked for the Daily Southtown for 38 years.
