Teaching Students Life Lessons

Written By:

Jessica Ferguson

Teacher

Richmond City Public Schools

I’m an 11th grade English teacher in an inner city school where the majority of the students live in low income and poverty stricken areas. These are students who have been surrounded by generations upon generations of individuals who do not place an importance on education or success after high school. As a teacher I found myself having just as many life lessons with my students as I had English lessons. I noticed that my students were much more interested in the life lessons! In my opinion that illustrates, despite their environment, they care about their future.

With that being said, teachers have to follow a curriculum and those life lessons have to take a back seat but they are extremely important and a must have. We need programs like the Wise College Counsel because it provides teachers and students with additional support.    Our job as high school teachers is to insure that our students are ready for life after graduation. But, with the focus being on passing SOLs, certain skill sets are not addressed. Having programs like WISE can help tie up those lose ends! I think I speak for every teacher when I say, the students are what’s important and we appreciate all the support we can get to insure their success after high school!