Holli Coburn remembers the day a troubled student, an African-American boy with soft brown eyes and an infectious smile, first showed up in her fourth-grade classroom. He was 8 years old, could barely read and was known for acting out in class. Still, Coburn, a teacher at Smith Elementary in Denver’s Park Hill community who describes her approach as “tough but loving,” welcomed the challenge.
Coburn worked with him at school every day, both in small groups and one-on-one. To show she cared beyond the classroom, the married mother of two also took time out to attend her student’s football practices and a basketball game. Those personal gestures, she says, helped her begin chipping away at what she suspected were his underlying issues: chronic low self-esteem and a severe lack of confidence.