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Creating the Conditions for Success

In keeping with a late-August tradition known and practiced by K–12 educators everywhere, Leah Boucher is back in her classroom, preparing for the year ahead.

By Mitchell Institute

August 30^th, 2022

On this day, the real-feel temperature in Lewiston, Maine, is a stifling 90 degrees.

Even with the lights off and several fans going, it's not much cooler inside Leah Boucher’s Farwell Elementary School classroom, where the 2014 Mitchell Scholar from Hermon High School and University of Maine at Farmington graduate works to get the learning space ready for her 17 students, who are days away from starting their fourth-grade adventure. Making sure they have everything they need and they know where it’s all kept are essential to fostering their confidence. And when students feel confident, they’re more likely to engage in learning activities and be successful.

That’s why Boucher is here, on her own time — to create the conditions for success.

The Importance of Naming

Part of making her students feel at home is making sure they can see their names throughout the classroom.

In addition to donated or purchased-out-of-pocket notebooks and folders, Boucher makes sure her students have school-supplies bags bearing their names. She fills each bag with pencils, erasers, scissors, glue, and sticky notes. Then it's on to noting each child's name on a month-by-month birthday chart. Finally, Boucher inks students' names on multi-colored wooden tongue depressors so they can be drawn at random — making sure everyone gets a chance — to answer questions, pair up for a learning activity, or be recognized as good citizens for helping with classroom tasks.

“Some students feel more secure when they know that they have their own things in the classroom because they have to share so much at home,” Boucher said. “They like knowing that what is labeled with their name is theirs and doesn’t have to be shared.”

Meeting the Needs of Little Ears

Some of Boucher's students find that listening to a read-along recording aids their comprehension and vocabulary development. And some need complete quiet. To accommodate both, Boucher provides students with multiple sets of headphones in her classroom. For listening to read-alongs, she has installed racks of multicolored headphones above her classroom library. And for those seeking silence, Boucher unboxes several sets of cordless, noise-canceling headphones that were purchased through an Amazon classroom wish list by a long-ago neighbor who has since moved to Louisiana.

Those donations are part of more than $800 in classroom supplies purchased this year with contributions from friends and family members. Among the things Boucher has purchased out-of-pocket for her students are multiple pairs of socks that students can wear, as needed, during physical education or recess. Just before the end-of-day dismissal, Boucher collects whatever has been worn in a basket, takes the socks home, and returns to her classroom each morning with a freshly laundered supply.

“When people I knew as a child find out that I became a teacher, they say, ‘I always knew you would do it. What do you need for your classroom?’ That generosity gives me great hope that people still trust and value educators.”

Making Sure Students See Themselves in Classroom Books

Keeping a well-stocked library of titles to satisfy a range of abilities and interests is a source of joy for Boucher. That's why unboxing new books before the start of the school year is a labor of love. She's especially keen on making sure her students who are new Mainers can see themselves in the books she makes available, such as "Magic Like That" by Samara Cole Doyon (seen above).

Motivated by a desire to support English Language Learner students, Boucher started a Civil Rights Team at Farwell, where — with support from school leadership — she and students are working on ways to further strengthen the "welcoming climate in the school."

“I'm not it it for the money or any agenda. My overall goal is to educate students and to have them be a kinder person after they leave my classroom. Empathy. Empathy is my favorite word.”

Footnotes

Here at the Mitchell Institute, we wish educators everywhere all the best for the year ahead. As Senator Mitchell writes in his memoir, “The Negotiator,” “All across America, extraordinary and devoted men and women teach, and also shape and inspire, our children … We all benefit if in our society as many young Americans as possible reach their full potential.”

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