I start every morning with the same routine. Coffee and a stack of agendas stuffed full of last night’s homework.

My school gives homework every night for every subject. And I check it every morning as the sun rises and my students devour a quick breakfast.

Homework check is a quick affair, lasting less than an hour between bathroom breaks and attendance for all 97 of our fifth grade students. I’ll admit that some mornings before the caffeine has really set into my system, I’ve gotten a bit upset with a student who doesn’t turn in his homework, doesn’t put it in order or has somehow managed to make backpack origami out of the formerly pristinely white and flat reading log I handed him the night before.

Our school holds big expectations. Homework every night, for one, is not an expectation many of my students have been used to being held to. There are two trends in those who struggle with the homework — and thus meet my wrath, or at least my frustrations, early the next morning.

The first trend is the student who is perfectly capable of finishing his or her homework, but chooses not too. Usually a few 7:30 a.m. phone calls home and a parent conference can work that problem away. The second trend is the student who simply struggles in such a fast paced environment. They’re behind from the get-go for a myriad of reasons. The whole concept of longer school days and more work is overwhelming and confusing.

I have three of these students in my homeroom right now. At first, I just grew increasingly annoyed every morning shouting their names to hurry up and bring their homework folder up to me so I could move on with the rest of my day after marking down all the missing assignments and incomplete papers the folder was sure to hold. We’re well past a month of school and these three are still, daily, missing major assignments, not getting things signed and generally showing up unprepared for morning homework check. Once the majority of the fifth grade gets a grasp on our morning routine, students such as these start to stand out like traffic cones.

Instead of moving into the rhythm of daily homework assignments, they flounder with the added work and lack the organizational skills necessary to keep track of it. What originally starts as frustration and complication in my morning routine begins to turn into sympathy for the ones lagging behind — as this is one of the many reasons schools like mine exist. It is one of the major reasons I work for a school that requires extra hours and weekends from teachers.

We’re not going to let them fall behind. We’re going to find a way to fix it.

My way, with my three traffic cones, starts not in the mornings, but in the afternoon before, in study hall. For the past week, we’ve gathered together and written each of the assignments down in their agendas, organized them by subject and put big, monstrous circles around the things they need to get signed.

This morning as I finished off my coffee, I mindlessly flipped through a stack of papers. Math, Science, Social Studies, Reading, Writing. Parent signature. All complete. All perfect. I turned to the front of the agenda to find a name and smiled.

“Javier,” I shouted, “Come here.”

He hustled up quickly and a look of relief and pride flooded his face as I offered my hand up for a high five.

“You did it. You got a check,” I said.

“Thanks,” he said, biting his lip and rushing off to tell his friends.

Next came Micheal. Check. And another high five.

And then Juan, the messiest of all three, also a check. Before I could extend my hand in the congratulatory high five universally preferred by fifth grad boys, he stuck his hand out and confidently said “I’m going to do it all week. All week it will be perfect. I promise.”

“I hope so,” I said as I shook his hand.

There are certainly days I wish I had another hour in bed, worked at school that didn’t require me to be awake enough at seven in the morning to check piles of homework or didn’t have to hurry off 32 noisy 10-year-olds to the bathroom before I had downed my first cup of coffee, but today was not one of them.

There’s something to be said for taking the time to catch someone who is falling. There’s something to be learned from looking for the real problem instead of giving up on someone who is lagging behind. And there’s certainly little better than a high five and a handshake to start your morning.

5 Responses to “High fives and handshakes”

1. Liv Says:
   September 17th, 2009 at 5:39 am

   You know, it’s not very often that I wish that I could be a teacher, but that’s what your post just made me think. Thankfully for the children, the wistful thought has passed, and I realize that you do a much better job than I ever could. Thanks for getting up early, staying up late, and actually working hard for those kids.

2. Mom Says:
   September 17th, 2009 at 8:39 am

   It is stories like yours that remind me of how proud I am of you. Thank you for having the drive to help those not as fortunate. A big hug to you.

3. Crystal Says:
   September 17th, 2009 at 9:31 am

   I agree with Liv- I’m not much of a teacher naturally, but just for a moment while reading your story, I thought WOW that sounds great!

   My favorite part:
   “There’s something to be said for taking the time to catch someone who is falling. There’s something to be learned from looking for the real problem instead of giving up on someone who is lagging behind. And there’s certainly little better than a high five and a handshake to start your morning.”

   Thank you Sam for standing up for the little guy and not letting them fall!

4. Estelle Says:
   September 18th, 2009 at 5:02 pm

   You are an amazing teacher, Sam!

5. Michelle Says:
   September 20th, 2009 at 8:22 pm

   Man, Sam:) That’s awesome. I’d love to hear more about your school sometime. We never really got to talk much about it this summer. You’re amazing!

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