Motivation is a buzz word these days. I regularly hear about motivational speakers, intrinsic motivation, or the loss of motivation. While it feels trendy right now, it’s also useful. Considering my own motivation or considering the motivation of others helps me make progress in my life.
Teachers at Oasis chew on this same concept. These amazing men and women care deeply about their students. They focus on getting to know the deep places of each child’s heart and finding what will motivate them. Mary, who now leads Oasis education department, started as one of those teachers.
In 2016, Mary was a fourth grade English teacher at The Valley. This class had a reputation – a bad reputation. None of the other teachers made any progress with them. Not only were their scores below average, but they had big emotional walls up preventing them from engaging in class. Mary started by promising that each day she would do five things the same way; she would pray over them, give each one a hug while saying good morning, introduce vocabulary words, go over the lesson, and then play a fun game. For quite a while, the class as a whole wouldn’t respond to her questions or hugs… until one day just one girl gave Mary a smile. It turns out this girl was curious, and she wanted to ask questions. As this child began to open up, many in the class followed suit.
…except one boy. He remained in the corner seat and never spoke. Eventually, Mary called on him to read a paragraph. That day she discovered the hard truth – he couldn’t read. He did not speak any English and couldn’t write in English either. Mary had her work cut out for her.
One day, as the rest of the class picked out some library books, Mary took the boy aside. She asked him his favorite subject, and he said math. She pulled up his math scores, and noticed he was only scoring 20%. Mary looked into his eyes and said, “Do you want to have the best math score in the class?” His eyes lit up, “Yes!” So she made him a promise, “I will tutor you in math under one condition – you let me teach you how to read.” He agreed.
They began with first grade math and first grade English. Mary required him to score 98% on a lesson before moving on. In just one year, this boy completed three years of both math and English lessons. He scored 70% on his final math exam. The next term, when he was in fifth grade, he was top of the class in math, just as Mary had promised.
Last week, this boy went on safari with Matt and Mary to celebrate graduation from 8th grade. English still isn’t his favorite subject, but his math scores have never dipped. Mary pulled him aside during their camping trip and told him how very proud she is. He smiled up at her and said,
“I have waited for this day since pre-primary school. I struggled. But I did it.”
Then, just as he did in fourth grade, he gave her a hug.
