Teaching the Poor Child from a Dysfunctional Family (Part I): Overcoming the Student's Fear of Failure

Call her Jaqueline.

She is eleven years old (going on twelve),a Grade 6 student, and the eldest child of two from a single mom who is 27 years old. We'll call Jacqueline's mom Clarissa and her little brother, a Grade 3 eight year-old (going on nine), we'll name Terrence.

I have known the family since Jacqueline was in Grade 1. Jacqueline has on occasion attended the New Salem Missionary Baptist Church Tuesday Tutoring program that I also coordinate, but this program depends on the student's own transportation and requires familial initiative lacking in Jacqueline's family. Only this year have I been able to get Jacqueline into consistent participation in the small-group program of the New Salem Educational Initiative, for which I do provide transportation.

As a Grade 1 student, Jacqueline caught my attention as a bright, peppy, sweet little girl with a winning smile that she flashed frequently at the antics I go through as part of my relationship-building with young children. Over the years she continued to show many signs of personality consistency along these lines, but time has taken its toll, as it does for too many inner city kids: She has seen, heard, and smelled far too much.

Jacqueline's mother, Clarissa, comes from a natal family situation in which the adult role models were scarce and parental attention minimal. Clarissa's academic progress went seriously off course from middle school onward, and when she became pregnant at sixteen years of age, she enrolled at an alternative school through which she almost got a high school degree but little education; she now works intermittedly and with insufficient dedication toward a GED. Clarissa sings in a church choir and avails herself of church activities in behalf of herself and her kids, but many of the old habits remain. She is undereducated and infrequently employed. She no longer does hard drugs, but she goes through long stretches of time when she lapses into heavy marijuana use, even in the presence of her kids. One night when I brought Jacqueline and Terrence (he is also enrolled in the Initiative) back a bit early from a tutoring session, Clarissa was caught by surprise, furiously attempting to hide a joint in her hand behind her hip as I gave my report on the kids' academic progress.

So Jacqueline is at this point far too wise in the ways of the world of the inner city. She has not herself succumbed as yet to the usual temptations connected to the street life, but she has a jaded view of the world and trusts only those adults who prove that they deserve that trust and are worthy of respect. At the present time, the most dependable adults in Jacqueline's life are myself and a radiantly wonderful godmother who rides as close herd as she can over Jacqueline and Terrence.

As with so many kids whose families have endured move after residential move; frequently disconnected telephones; electricity, natural gas, and heat the deactivization of which is an ever-present threat; and what sometimes seems like one family emergency after another--- Jacqueline carries many emotional scars and a deep fear of failure. This is the most notable change in her persona at Grade 6 from what it was at Grade 1. Once an ambitious and enthusiastic child ready to take on the world, Jacqueline is now very retiscent to do anything that could result in an error in a life that has known far too many setbacks.

My approach with such a child is akin to what behaviorist psychologists call "successive approximations," small steps successfully taken that get ever closer to the desired outcome. I present a concept and an assignment that calls upon Jacqueline to stretch just a bit but moves her toward a goal well within her reach. If, for example, the Grade 6 task that she must accomplish is adding fractions that demand conversions to common denominators, we first review multiplication tables that are famliar but not thoroughly memorized. With that accomplished, we also run a quick review of the simple division that will be necessary to reduce fractions for some answers. Then we proceed to add fractions with common denominators. And in time, with several skills properly reviewed and highly praised on my part for their successful applications, we proceed to go through the process of actually finding common denominators.

Much of this is accomplished with my trusty yellow pad, on which I sketch out examples and spin off problems on the spot. I do have prepared exercises from which I can draw, but in cases such as Jacqueline's I prefer the immediacy of the yellow pad. As we work side by side, I give high praise for each genuine accomplishment and comment as to how intelligent and insightful she is. Jacqueline beams, then I go into one of my silly verbalisms, including a bit of a rhythmic, "Oh, yeah--- oh, yeah--- oh yeah oh yeah oh yeah" with a kind of dance motion well known to inner city kids. Again, Jacqueline beams, and I seize the opportunity to implant serious ideas such as, "You have done such a good job and, you know, this is so important, because nothing is as important as your education."

Through her small-group sessions with me this year, Jacqueline's confidence has steadily returned. I talk with Jacqueline's godmother frequently and am always apprised of the latest crisis in the family's never-ending onslaught of challenges. I know that on some days I will have to work extra hard to reignite Jacqueline's sense of confidence.

The fear of failure in many poor children from inner city families is ever present. The adroit teacher must use successful strategies building a string of incremental successes, and that teacher ideally has deep knowledge of the child's life circumstances so as to anticipate acute lapses into fear. Then that potentially demobilizing fear must be converted into its opposite: The sense of personal self-worth and foundation of confidence that all successful human beings have.