My Story
I am serving as an assistant principal at West Bronx Academy for the Future, a 6 through 12 school. With high school students, I see there are a lot of competing priorities. Kids might live far away and their travel time is significant to get to school. Or they might need to be working. Those are big competitive forces that teachers have to deal with, and it's hard. You can’t tell a kid not to work if he has to work. But you have to try and find what successes they will be able to show you. It’s really important to focus on the most granular thing kids are having trouble with, and then grow that out to allow them ability to taste success. Everything is layered, and you can measure your success if you can show them, "hey, if you can do this, now let's think about it at this next level, and even think about it in this next level." That moment of breakthrough is something really powerful for both me and my students at the same time.