Have you ever watched kids swim towards a drifting beach ball? The harder they try, the further away it seems to get. Eventually, they decide the effort is no longer worth the reward. Overwhelmed and tired, the kids start caring less about the lost ball and more about survival. The classroom isn’t that different for some students. Many students start with a committed effort, but over time they fall behind and zeroes begin to lose their meaning since they are already too far in the hole. Under the weight of zeroes, their motivation is just to survive and students begin to sink. However, just like our swimmers could benefit from a lifeguard, so could your students. Academic lifeguards work with students to rescue missed opportunities to demonstrate their learning. Working with an academic lifeguard prepares students by giving them support and modeling that obligations just doesn’t go away and get replaced by a zero. Responsibility lingers and you have to learn how to pick yourself up and face it. This is where an academic lifeguard becomes an invaluable and consistent reinforcement of the school culture. Adding academic lifeguards to your intervention initiative changes the status quo of education for most schools by altering the sink or swim mentality and replacing it with competence, choice, and a community of support. This type of school culture fosters social support and produces students that can persevere, be resourceful, rise and overcome obstacles, and be success seekers. “No matter how large or small your school is academic lifeguards can provide the necessary set of eyes” to target underachieving groups of students. (Brick House, p. 43) Students will reap the rewards, teachers will be grateful, and parents will appreciate knowing that lifeguards are watching out for their students. For more information about integrating academic lifeguards into your school culture contact info@poweroficu.com. We have schools from across the country eager to share their success stories with you.
