My sister reminded me of this saying. We heard it a lot from my Mom.”Don’t get lost in the shuffle, and fall through the cracks” I always thought if was a funny saying. I could picture shuffling a desk of cards, and somehow getting mixed in, or actually falling through the cracks. My Mom was actually telling us to be strong, speak up, don’t let anyone walk all over us, get what we deserve etc. etc.
I interacted again today with over 100 children in the Bay Area, CA. Teaching them history. I wondered before I began how many of these kids were falling through the cracks. Perhaps some. Perhaps none. I decided to employ a technique I used when I coached large swim teams. Many years ago. I used to try to speak to every swimmer every practice. It’s not easy to do. I tried that in my classes today. Speak to every child in the class. And there must be eye contact.
So I did. I spoke to every child in every class, individually. They were all 7th graders. With 30 kids in a one hour class, the conversations were understandably very short. Maybe just one question, maybe even just a “welcome to class” or “thank you for coming”. I got many genuine “thank you’s” in return.
I suspect that it’s not always obvious when someone is getting lost in the shuffle. I’m pretty sure it’s not always the quiet loner in class who is prone to problems. It may be the sociable popular student who is really suffering. From what I read. This is not my area of expertise, and I have a full 2 weeks of experience.
I do know that whatever these kids are going through, if anything, they got a moment with me where they were spoken to with respect and kindness. May mean something – may absolutely mean nothing. But they got it.