The Student I Didn’t Reach

A baseball player who makes a hit one out of every three at bats is considered excellent. A stockbroker who consistently performs a few percentage points better than the market average is an industry leader. But when it comes to our children’s chinuch, the goal is nothing less than 100 percent success.

Teachers face classes of two dozen or more impressionable souls. They aim to reach every one, and usually do so remarkably well. Inevitably, though, every teacher has encountered a student they couldn’t reach or somehow overlooked or underestimated. Here, four veteran teachers share candid memories of the students they missed, and principals shares insight into how we can help those girls in the future

Chaya

Middle school
Brooklyn, NY
15 years’ experience

At times, you think you’re doing so well with a student, and then something shows you how tenuous the relationship actually is.

Daniella was a smart kid, and so good at hovering on the edge of the line without actually crossing it and getting into trouble… at least, not too badly. I thought I was getting through to her. I made sure to communicate my faith in her, both during class and outside, and I thought she knew how much I cared.