I Should Have Known

The problem with learning is that it is a process. One thing builds on the next. It is pretty hard to be able to draw good conclusions without knowing all the facts.

One example happened to me while I was teaching a self-contained class of ESL students. One of the students was a notorious food thief. He would take apples, bananas and other food items from his classmate’s desks, stash them in his backpack which he would forget to close. The items sometimes spilled out. He wasn't a very good thief. It got so I would walk by his pack, retrieve the stolen items and return them to the victims without anyone being the wiser.

This student never stole anything other than food that I was aware of. In my learning process, I came to understand the motivation behind the stealing was lack of food at home. The majority of my students lived in poverty. It was possible there were times this student's only meals were eaten at school. It took me a couple of months to pull all the information together as the student was not forthcoming with his situation. Being a new and naive teacher, I had to gather all the information, until I finally understood abject poverty. 

At first, I thought that student was headed for certain jail time if this behavior wasn’t corrected. I mean, it’s a well known fact that a life of crime begins with the stealing of fruit, right? 

After the lightbulb went off, I made a point of keeping food in the classroom and scheduled regular snack breaks. Having food available combined with other student support outside the classroom addressed the thefts. 

Once I was able to connect all the dots, instead of celebrating a successful outcome, I told myself I should have known. 
Really?