Starfish: The best thing that happened at Collins was City Year

For about a week now, a student and I have passed a notebook back and forth to each other. We've written about his dreams, his background, his future, and his feelings towards Collins. In our latest exchange, I asked him what it is like being a student at Collins. This is an excerpt from his response:

I can't take the b.s. everyday at Collins. It's a day of fear, you never know who, what, when, something is going to just happen. The best thing that happened at Collins was City Year. I feel like I am finally getting help. I am being noticed. 

M is one of the hardest working students I have. He is one of my coursework focus students and I create weekly grade reports that helps him visualize his progress in class. Ever since the first grade report, he has taken his role as a student very seriously. Before, I would often times catch him dozing off in class and dropping further and further behind because he wasn't understanding the material and didn't ask for help. Now, he works hard everyday and is on task. He calls me over in class when he's having trouble with a concept and wants me to check his work to make sure he is understanding correctly. He's understanding the importance of investing in his education daily and has really come to appreciate the help City Year offers him.

Dear K...

A note I wrote one of my girls during class...

Dear K.R.,

You have a natural talent for understanding economics. Have you ever thought of studying economics in college? You'd be really good at it!

-Ms. Serrano

"I haven't thought about it before," she says. "Have you thought about what college you want to go to?" "No." "I'm going to look up economic programs and different colleges and print them out so we can take a look at them, okay?" "Alright."

Then she takes the post-it note I wrote and sticks it on her shirt like a badge. On her way out of the class as she passes the teacher, Ms. H, she says "I would show you my note but I don't want to be late, bye Ms. H."

 

 

Morning Greeting Fight

Everyone was heading out of the gym and before we knew it, there was a huge crowd and commotion right outside in the hallway. D and DW were locked together in mid-fight. I was cautious going in the circle trying to break it up, and when I saw that there weren't any swings being taken I put myself in the middle to break them up. With the help of some other students, we pull them apart from each other, and I yell out to everyone to get to class. The mass of around 50 students start walking down the hallway away from the annex into the main school building. At this point I was walking behind D and DW was up ahead a couple feet. DW turns and swings at D again and they start trying to get in it again, I was a lot quicker this time and pushed D back away from the crowd and I yelled to DW and the other students to keep walking. At this time, the security guards were running towards everyone and grabbed DW and D, taking them up to the Dean's office. Both students will probably get a 10 day suspension for fighting, and on top of missing school and getting behind in class because of his recent actions, D won't be able to participate in the VIP lounge, a City Year event celebrating students that have made progress over the recent weeks.

What a way to start the morning- barely breathing because of a cold, and already broke up a fight (twice)...

Wonder what the rest of the day will hold.

"I don't want you to get locked up."

I noticed something was wrong with Big M today. "It's personal business," he said walking away from me when I asked him what was going on. "I'll meet you down stairs, Ms. Serrano." Tuesdays I meet with him and another student during lunch to talk about school, life, and how to better manage behavior. During the session, it became apparent that there was something really big bothering him, so I ended the session early, letting T join another group that was enjoying lunch, and I asked to talk to M outside in the hallway. "Come on, M, I want to talk to you. I'm worried about you, I want to make sure everything is okay." "I'm alright." We walked to a hallway separated from the main hallway and lobby. "Is it something with your family?" I asked. "No, it's something else." "Is it something with your girlfriend?" "..yeah." "What happened? Did you guys break up?" "No...she's a whore." I asked about where he was getting his information and if he is sure that he is interpreting everything correct. "I know it...she's a whore!" ... "How do you feel right now?" "Pissed off." "Good, it's good that you can acknowledge your emotion and how its making you feel. When you've felt this 'pissed off' feeling before, how did you react?" "I go off." "And what ends up happening because you go off?" "I get locked up."

"Now in this situation, you have to make the decision of whether you are going to go off or instead become bigger than the situation. You already know the consequences of 'going off', and now, you can think of how you can stop the situation from getting the best of you. You just got down writing your academic goal for the rest of the school year: To pass all my classes. Now, in order to pass all your classes, you have to stay focused on your and your work, you have to be in school - so that means no suspensions or getting kicked out. If you let this anger right now get the best of you, and you go off, you'll get suspended or kicked out, and that's not going to help you towards your goal. I know it's going to be very hard for the rest of the day to stay focused on work, but if anything, it'll help you not focus on the situation. You can be better than this situation by focusing on you, focusing on your future and what you can do so that you can get out of here, and not have to deal with any problems or any drama that you are going through right now. You are only 15. You are very, very young, and you still have a lot of your life left. Take this as a sign that maybe it wasn't meant to be, that instead, you can do what you have to do to take care of yourself, so that you can get ahead."

During the whole time I was talking, I could tell he was listening. I was sitting beside him, and although he was looking ahead, I could tell by his eyes and body language that he was really listening to my words. I asked him for his hand, and told him to look at me. "It will be okay. This will pass by, just take care of yourself. Stand up." I outstretched my arms and gave him a hug. "It will be okay, M. you ready to go back upstairs?" He nods. We walk back up to the 2nd floor, and instead of heading into the lunch room to be with his friends, he keeps walking by and walks around the building. I didn't want to walk back downstairs yet, I wanted to make sure he was going to be okay, so I stand next to my teacher's room and start reading the bulletin board she has by her door. A couple minutes pass by and I see someone in the reflection of the door, "I finished my presentation for today..." says M with a big smile on his face. "GREAT!" I could tell he moved past the anger and decided to become focused on himself, ready to take on the rest of his day.

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