上門家訪，給老師上一堂人生課

Knock Knock， Teacher’s Here： The Power of Home Visits

Ninety percent of students at Hobgood Elementary are growing up in low-income households， and Principal Tammy Garrett says most of her teachers don’t know what that’s like.

Principal Garrett： If you only grow up and you only know middle-class family， you may not understand， at times， maybe， why they don’t have their homework， or why they’re tired， or those kinds of things.

So when Garrett became principal four years ago， she decided to get teachers out of their classrooms—and comfort zones—for an afternoon and onto a pair of yellow school buses. They’re trying to get pumped up because they’re doing something few enjoy： making cold calls.

Mrs. Marsh： Hello？ It’s Hobgood Elementary School.

After a few more knocks， the door to this first-floor apartment cracks open.

Mrs. Marsh： It’s Mrs. Marsh. Hi！

Many of these unannounced visits don’t get beyond awkward 1）pleasantries and handing out flyers about festivities. Some yield brief-but-2）substantive conversations with parents like Jennifer Mathis， who might be strangers around school.

Jennifer Mathis： I don’t have a car. I can’t drive because my back got broken in two places.

This is the kind of real talk Principal Garrett hopes for. Principal Garrett： You know， if a kid doesn’t have a place to sleep， or they have to share the couch with their siblings at night， and there are nine kids with one bedroom or two bedrooms， it’s important for them to see that—not to be 3）sympathetic. It’s to empower the teachers to change the lives of the kids.

Shelleah Stephens （Pupil）： It’s great to see you. Teacher： You too.

That’s Shelleah Stephens， the daughter of Kenny Phillips， who lets his fourth-grader show off her 4）budding social skills. Phillips runs a small landscaping business and says long days keep him from being as involved in his daughter’s education as he’d like to be.

Kenny Phillips： It’s just good to see her grow up， bro， good to see her grow up and have people around her who care. That’s the main thing. Sometimes parents aren’t there， man. Sometimes we’ve got work. Sometimes we’re gone a lot of the time. It’s good to see， you know， come out to the neighbourhood like that， man. I know she’s in good hands.

Phillips says when he was growing up， no teacher stopped by his house. He says he’ll return the favor by making sure Shelleah finishes all her homework this year.

在霍布古德小學(xué)，90%的學(xué)生出身于低收入家庭。校長塔米·加勒特說，大多數(shù)教師并不了解那是一種怎樣的生活。

加勒特校長：如果你從小到大只接觸過中產(chǎn)家庭，有些時(shí)候，你也許根本無法理解為什么學(xué)生沒有完成作業(yè)，為什么他們總是一臉疲憊，或者諸如此類的事情。

所以加勒特在四年前當(dāng)上校長之后，她決定找個(gè)下午將老師們帶出教室，以及他們的舒適區(qū)，登上兩輛黃色校巴。老師們都在給自己打氣，因?yàn)樗麄兘酉聛硪龅氖虑椴⒉皇苋舜姡豪洳环兰以L。

馬什夫人：你好？我是霍布古德小學(xué)的。

敲了好幾下門之后，這間一樓公寓的大門終于打開了。

馬什夫人：我是馬什夫人。你們好！

許多這種沒有事先通知的家訪不過就是些尷尬的寒暄以及派發(fā)慶典宣傳單，但也有些家訪會變成一次簡短但有實(shí)質(zhì)性內(nèi)容的談話，比如遇到詹妮弗·馬西斯這種極少出現(xiàn)在學(xué)校的家長。

詹妮弗·馬西斯：我家沒有車。我也不能開車，因?yàn)槲业募贡硞藘商帯?/p>

這便是加勒特校長希望聽到的真實(shí)談話。

加勒特校長：你知道，如果一個(gè)孩子晚上沒有地方睡覺，或者他要和兄弟姐妹擠一張沙發(fā)，又或者一兩個(gè)臥室里要住九個(gè)孩子，讓老師親眼看到這一切是很有意義的——不是為了同情學(xué)生，而是讓老師有動力去改變這些孩子的人生。

雪莉爾·斯蒂芬斯（學(xué)生）：見到你真高興。

教師：我也是。

這是肯尼·菲利普斯的女兒雪莉爾·斯蒂芬斯，這位父親正看著讀四年級的孩子“炫耀”她那初露頭角的社交技巧。……