Student that "cannot learn" wins at HELP Miami

Here is a wonderful story from HELP Miami of a "problem" child who jumped three grades in four weeks.

Summer school has been in session for just four weeks and in that time H.E.L.P. Miami has done what 10 years of schooling could not for one of our students... we got a him to learn. (And oh my DOG...it was sooo simple!) I met this 10th-grader in June. He had failed the grade, which was just another loss in a chain of educational upsets. When he was younger, he was labeled and medicated against his will and his academics and attitude got worse. So here is this hopeless teenager in my office being "ordered" to summer school and not very happy about his situation. When I asked him and his mother why he was put on medication their answer was that he was "bored in school." (Can you imagine...a 10-year-old boy...bored...in school...being the basis of a "mental disorder"?) I probably should be put in a straight jacket with my viewpoint on modern education! Anyway, the boy has struggled and struggled and now is being held back because he failed a class. He tested out around 5th grade in most of his subjects and was put on a study program addressing grammar and English (the class he failed). The end of his first week in summer school, he came into my office and said that he FINALLY understood Shakespeare! The second week he cleared up misunderstandings in grammar and handled a few things in math as well. This week he retested and has gone up three full grade levels in reading and language arts! He says he is learning...ACTUALLY learning! And get this...he is having fun! OH MY DOG! A STUDENT LEARNING SOMETHING AT SCHOOL...THAT'S CRAZY!!! Anyway, he is happy and so is his mother!

Barbie Rivera

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