The Power of Ongoing Personal Relationships with Families and Students

One of the most splendid moments of my many splendid moments as a teacher came when I complimented Maria for remembering in considerable detail a number of connected items from one of our discussions on government. These items were learned as we moved in transport to and from her regular two-hour weekly session in the New Salem Educational Initiative.

Among those facts that Maria remembered was that the Articles of Confederation served as the first constitutional document of the United States, and that it was a document formulated in 1787 that conceded little power to the central government, reserving almost all powers to the states. She also recalled that the United States Constitution superseded the Articles of Confederation, went into effect in 1789, and detailed a much more complete plan of balanced power between the central government and the governments of the states. Maria remembered all of this, and as I questioned her I could tell that she truly understood that this federal approach to governance differs from lose confederate systems and systems of central government dominance; and she grasped how the United States Constitution in its very balance leaves open room for interpretation in debate and raises controversies, as with the claim of states rights that so informed the history of the American South, becoming a key issue in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s.

That is a fairly good chunk of United States history and government when comprehended in its totality and for its interrelated parts. Maria had picked up this information entirely in one evening, going to and from the classroom where she attends the two-hour weekly session with her sister and cousin. In the formal sessions, our focus is on math, and on reading for comprehension of subject area material from across the liberal arts curriculum. It would have been possible for Maria to have acquired her knowledge from reading of the latter sort. Because she did, for example, learn about the Reconstruction era and the disappointment felt by Frederick Douglass and other African American leaders as they saw the brutal retrenchment that occurred in the wake of the Compromise of 1877. She also learned about the causes of the Trojan War, the death of Hector near the end of the Iliad, and the origin of the saying, “Achilles’ heel.” And among many other things that Maria learned from reading subject area material was that light is composed of photons, packets of pure energy with no mass, and that light travels at 186,000 miles per second; she learned that this is much faster than the speed of sound, which travels only about 1,000 feet per second as the successive collision of molecules slows the rate at which sound can travel.

But Maria asks good questions as we travel to and from each session. I listen carefully to her questions and provide as much additional subject area knowledge as our fifteen minutes each way allows. Her understanding of the information focused on constitutional history came entirely in transport. I was so impressed with her retention, saying to her,

“You sure are smart.”

To this Maria replied, “You made me think I was smart.”

That was the splendid moment.

Maria has been a student in the New Salem Educational Initiative since she was in Grade 5. She was late into her Grade 6 year when she made the comment just noted. She is now about to enter Grade 9, so the relationship has continued, as it does with all of my students. And with her continuation in the Initiative, Maria’s knowledge base has continued to grow, she’s moved as an English Language Learner (with familial roots to El Salvador) from rudimentary reading skills languishing well below level of school enrollment to gaining full comprehension of Shakespeare’s >A Midsummer Night’s Dream<.

What Maria learns in her two-hour weekly session is augmented powerfully by informal discussion in transport, by the ongoing nature of her participation in the Initiative from year to year, and by the relationship that I have built with Maria’s family. I go inside Maria’s home and speak with whoever is charge (mother, father, or older sister) at the time I arrive, and when I bring Maria back from our academic session I do the same. When I arrive, I ask about the family’s week and pay careful attention to understand if there are any problems that the family may be having, with which I can provide or find help, and that might impede Maria’s capacity to concentrate. When I arrive, I tell the family member of authority what Maria is going to learn in the immediately upcoming session. And when we return, I tell the family member how Maria progressed, and what additional topics we covered; then I will make suggestions for Maria’s continued learning at home during the interval between our sessions.

In this way, Maria learns a great deal of solid academic material in each formal session. She learns a great deal of additional information in transport. And she is inspired and encouraged to explore topics further in the week before her next session. Many weeks, I may drop by just to see how things are going in the two or three days since I’ve seen her. The family knows I care. I respect the family and gain their trust as a confidante. In this fluid process combining formal and informal experiences, Maria gains greater and greater confidence as a student, and she comes alive in a wonderfully accumulating world of knowledge.

So it is that Maria comes to formulate an image of herself as a smart person. She tells me so, and that I made her feel that way. For a teacher, there can be no more splendid moment.