This blog is due no later than 3:00 on March 15, 2010.
In preparation for our discussions on Social/Emotional Development and Social Cognition, please reflect on the following quote from Mind at a Time.
" I get a little behind and I don't feel like dealing with it, so I put it behind me. Then I get more behind and I don't feel like bothering with it. Then I am too far behind to do anything about it. And unfortunately, that is the way it happens every year."
As part of your response, think about what you as a classroom teacher can do to help this student.
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29 comments:
Currently, I’m teaching 9th grade English as a long-term sub. The students have all been issued a notebook to go along with this semester’s unit, Literary Analysis. The daily entries they make in these notebooks will count as 30% of their grade - and they can use their notebooks during tests and essays. If they miss just one entry, they will not get their weekly points or have critical information on hand, so it’s really important that they keep up. I taught this same unit last year and discovered that absent students (and students not paying attention in class) fall hopelessly behind. This semester, I had to come up with a system that would serve my absentee students, my daydreamers, my inclusion students, and myself. Some of my challenges were: the assignments are written on the board, but it’s a faded old chalkboard that might make processing the writing difficult for my inclusion students; posting the assignments on the internet was not a solution because many of my students do not have internet access at home; and I don’t have time to check their notebooks and reiterate the assignment as they write. I think I came up with a brilliant solution! I type up my weekly lesson plan for the resource teachers - this lesson plan includes the notebook prompts. I just modify this for my students. I break up the daily lessons into boxes. If a student is absent, or if I see they missed an entry, I use a yellow highlighter to mark the entry or entries that they’ve missed. Then, put a copy of this modified lesson plan in their notebooks (I actually staple it into the notebooks of my inclusion students). Along with having a clear explanation of the missed notebook entry, students also get the benefit of having notes from the day’s lecture. Now, I don’t have to wonder if I’ve given them enough support to keep up with class. Debra D’Amico
When I first read this quote I remembered myself. I used to be in exactly the same situation. I was always late or the last to submit any assignments. But not in all classes whose teachers were checking and reminding us regularly, chunking the assignments into small pieces, giving study guide, telling in detail in every steps what to do. At least one these strategies would help students not get so behind.
I would like to give an example what I have done with a parent. We had 5 IEP students in one class. 2 of them always had many missing assignments, even in the first week of the semester. The system we are using at our school is awesome. Parents can see everything like attendance, grades, missing assignments, homework etc at any time. Parents have their own account. To get the parent also involved my plan was to set a weekly meeting with both student and parent I also invited the RSP teacher. I assigned him tutoring, RSP teacher checks his grades weekly as well. If he is missing any assignments, he is not going to PE. It worked well.
Mustafa Sahin
This is all so common among students and adults. I personally can relate to this in my busy schedule. Working full time and going to school nights requires me to really manage my time effectively. There is so much reading involved in college and getting so far behind is not hard to have the same feeling as the quote “I am too far behind to do anything about it.” Therefore a student who gets behind and more behind can use some strategies relating to time management, and sequential ordering. Some strategies I would teach this student is how to make “to do list” and breaking assignments into steps. I personally do this for myself and find it helpful to make sure I don’t get overwhelmed and wait till the last minute. Teaching a student to create a schedule and self monitor would be an effective strategy they can take with them year to year especially this student being that it seems to happen every year. This also will help with the negative mindset of “Hopelessness.” This is the feeling I get when I read this quote. As a professional educator I feel teaching all students time management strategies at any age will only help that child be successful in the busy demanding school and personal schedules that overcome all of us in our lives.
Janine Trauger
Like others have commented, it isn't hard to fall behind and after a while, it seems too hard to catch back up. It would be best to use preventative strategies so that students have ways of staying in step with the demands of the class. Knowing your students and assessing them often can probably help know when students maybe getting behind. The student I am observing for this class gives up pretty easily if he feels behind. When the teacher works with him, she makes work seem doable by breaking it down into steps, prompting him to stay busy, and encouragement. She also works on trying to have him communicate his needs more with the teacher, telling her when he needs more time or when he needs extra help. This kind of control can really be helpful with students who can potentially feel out of control when they fall behind. No one will be there to prompt them when they finish school and go on to work or post secondary school, so it is important that they learn the strategies that works for them to not fall behind. While the student is only in first grade, beginning those self efficacy skills with the student is very important.
Vanessa Bruton
This is an all too common story with the children we work with. Unfortunately, the children we work with are stuck in a pendulum which often times lack the proactive preventative approach from the teacher’s behalf. Reflecting on some of the students I have worked with in the past, who are in the general education population, it seems as if once they are “left” behind they typically stay there. I feel and believe that aligning yourself to preventive practices, as oppose to waiting for students to get behind and then working, will definitely optimize the students learning. In the special education classroom I am observing, I truly appreciate the teacher’s practical approach of simply checking in with the children periodically. When she notes one child is behind, she models and guides the students practice, as a whole class; when needed she individualizes the instruction. These are the types of instructional strategies that can support and enhance our children’s learning.
Jose Chavez
SPED 504MM
The quote from “Mind at a Time” is relevant to many classroom situations in which a student may allow their work load to discourage them and end up falling behind. With these occurrences happening in so many classrooms, it is important for the classroom teacher to help the progress of the student and keep this kind of problem from happening. Teachers can accomplish this through setting short term goals for the student and by keeping open lines of communication with the student and the parents.
Communication can be a key factor in a student’s success. Often times, the child may fear asking for help and this will stop them from attempting work that seems difficult. As the teacher, it is imperative to allow students opportunities to ask questions to the teacher and seek help. The teacher should also keep parents aware of the students progress and encourage the parents to work with their students at home. Having a supportive team on their side will give a student confidence to finish their work.
If a student does fall behind due to a failure to deal with the work when it arises, the teacher can help the situation by setting short term goals for their work. Sometimes when a student has a large workload they have to take on, the feat can seem over- bearing and impossible for them. The teacher can help by having students pace their work and focus on only one assignment at a time.
With these tactics in mind, the teacher in the classroom can help students who are struggling with their schoolwork. The social and emotional development of a child at this stage needs a certain level of support and encouragement for times when they seem to feel anxiety in the classroom.
Charlene Honnen
I had a conversation with a few of my students the other day about what motivates them and why sometimes they perform better than others. They expressed to me that there are times when they try really hard to do good in school, but after a little while they just get overwhelmed and give up entirely, acting up in class to get sent or just not showing up to school at all. When they come back to school they realize that they are even further behind than before which frustrates them even more.
On top of their frustration over school difficulties causing school frustration and absence from school students also face social and family struggles that effect how they learn or able to focus. This last week I had a student who was out for three days from school. On the day that she returned there had been Math test and instead of expecting to take the test blindly, the math teacher and I decided that I would coach her individually during that period and then test her the following day. While talking to her about math she just kept expressing to me her frustration about not only not understanding math, but also her frustration with her mother and the 4 year anniversary of the death of her brother.
- Brandon Stephens
I would be proactive with this student. By this I mean I would send notes to his or her parents and try different approaches. For example, if I am talking with the student about his assignment, and so are the parents it is more likely that the assignment will be completed. Also I like the homework outline sheet discussed in class, where students must get their assignment sheet signed the following class day by their parents. Another way to keep them on task could be breaking up assignments in smaller segments to get teacher input and to get the student moving on the assignment. Also keeping assignments listed online on a school website for the student and parents to see whenever any doubts are made.
Unfortunately, this is a statement that is made far too often with students. Nowadays, it is very hard to juggle everything: school, social life, family, and so forth. As time passes, there seems to be more and more things added to our list of things to do. As a child, you prefer to have a “play-date” with your friends instead of finishing your homework. In addition, some parents seem to be “far to busy” to check on their children to see how they are doing in school, and if they are keeping on track. With technological advances, it is very easy for children to get distracted. We can’t take total control and make sure that these kids don’t go on their computers, play stations, etc, but we can take control in the classrooms. As a teacher, we need to make sure that these kids take advantage of what is being offered to them in school. If a child is having a bad week, we should make an effort to find out why that is. There might be something happening in the household that is affecting the student’s academics. Instead of just minding our own business, and expecting the child to turn in all of their homework, we should show empathy and make a compromise. This isn’t to say that the students should be able to get away with this every week, but if the student is really suffering in school due to problems outside of school, or even not comprehending the material, it is our job to each out and try to help the child as much as we can.
-Sophia Khousadian
I think that the first thing to do in this case as a classroom teacher is to be able to identify that student. One of the problems in cases like this is that we do not always pay attention to these students, as they tend to be very quiet and hide, so no one will know about the problems they are having with following the curriculum. Making sure that we know about these students is by assessing what we teach and observing all students and their behaviors. Once we see that a student feels that he cannot follow what we teach, does not try anymore because he thinks he is too far behind and does not have a chance to catch up, we need to try to find out where he is. Then we can see what the last thing was that he did study and understand. After this we have to scaffold him up by giving him study material that he can follow, in his pace. At the same time we have to try and see if he can keep up with the class and what everybody else is learning, with the support of teachers or peers. It is not easy as the student usually will not have the motivation to work and make the effort, so we need to find a way to show him that he can catch up and succeed.
Ronen Gilad
It is such a common situation for children to just feel overwhelmed and give up. Especially students who have more going on in their lives than school. More times than not children have other issues that really effect their school work and behavior. They are under the impression that sometimes if you just forget about it will go away and that is not true, so as educators we can teach some ways to multitask and just balance all that they have gong on in their lives. I think that one way to help students is by breaking down assignments and giving them digestible amounts. If they feel the assignment is due able and important they may attend to it until it is finished. The workload should be tolerable. If the child has a checklist where they can self monitor. The checklist or schedule can ease some children’s anxiety in bigger tasks. The broken down steps can really give accomplishment and completion at a quicker rate.
Kayla Bastedo
Clarisse Cho
As a classroom teacher who sees a student breaking down on time management skills, I would first be sensitive in not charging him(her) for attitudinal problems or moral turpitudes. I will then demystify him as to why he may be having a hard time in sequential ordering skills. By exploring the eight neurodevelopmental constructs we can delineate what his strengths and weaknesses may be and how his strengths can help him bypass his one identified weakness, sequential organization difficulties - among other weaknesses that may indirectly attribute to his 'dalliance'. Next, the student and I will identify some compensatory strategies and devise a series of step-wise manageable sequential steps with the the specifications of time table to meet the deadlines. Finally, I will closely monitor, encouraging and praising his progress in the classroom as well as enlist his parental help at home. I must recruit the parental involvement so the parents can also reinforce the student behavior, making sure that the student gets started at home and maintain his progress. In conclusion, managing student work will be a 3-way collaborative process among the student, his parents, and me the classroom teacher.
Clarisse Cho
No doubt we can all relate to having a student with this kind of mentality at some point or another. I think there is actually hope in this statement, because the student at least realizes he is behind. Some students are fine with falling behind, and will quit out of apathy, not frustration. Some students miss a lot of school on a regular basis due to medical concerns, family issues, or anxiety. I think it may be unrealistic to have these students make up every classroom point once they return. As a preventive measure, teachers should keep students updated weekly with what they are missing and updated with their current grade. Also, some students may have to have less homework. A student in my class with high-functioning autism gets about 50% of the hw as the other students. We have to remember what 'fair' is--giving the student what he/she needs.
Dawn Schmaling
As a teacher of grades K-2, I don’t have the opportunity to see how students deal with the homework assignments without parental support. As a tool to help parents and students monitor their homework assignments I provide a cover sheet on the homework packets that tell them what to do each day. For example on Monday my second graders may have to practice their spelling words, complete a language arts paper on adverbs and finish a math paper on addition with regrouping. Then on each of the following days they must complete the assignments as stated. All homework packets which are sent home via email on Sunday or by hard copy on Monday are due on Friday. I decided to go with a weekly homework packet instead of nightly homework because many of my students have after school therapies which take a lot of their time and they can not always complete an assignment on that night since they arrive home at 6:00PM. For others, it helps their pacing so they can cross off what they have completed that night to see what is left for them to do the rest of the week.
Alisa Friedman
There have been many situations where I have fallen behind in my school work where I end up feeling overwhelmed, stressed, and anxious. That is the problem most students face and teachers need to finds way to help them. If adults can fall behind with their obligations, then obviously so are young students. The problems I now notice from most of my K - 12 teachers are that they expected students to write everything down and be responsible for everything they said. So now I know that teachers need to have a more direct and hands-on approach in helping students. For students that fall behind teachers can break up assignments into smaller pieces so students can see progress in the overall product. Teachers can also make assignments due in shorter time periods (i.e. in one week instead of one month) to reduce the probability of forgetting. Teachers can also help students learn how to better manage their time thru a set class schedule and activities where they make real world decisions concerning time management.
Charlie Hernandez
Part of being a human is to procrastinate leaving tasks and projects for the last minute. Children and adults attending school can easily get overwhelmed by the many assignments that some courses may require. Unclear teachers' directions and expectations along with the lack of motivation can also lead the students to fall behind in their projects. On the one hand, as a student I had an awesome professor willing to help and guide students in any possible way to finish their assignments. she had handouts for absent students, she was tutoring before and after class, she was really making an effort to have successful students.
On the other hand, I have a professor who gets insulted when someone ask her a question. I believe that is the students' responsability to make sure that their assigments are completed by the due date, however I also believe that some of the teachers' responsabilities is monitoring their progress regularly, giving constant feedback, and building a good way of communication to clarify students' questions and doubts. Combining all these ingredients together will result in having outstanding achievers.
Since I am not a person who gets behind, in fact, I am compulsive about getting whatever I need to do in on time, I have to really work with my students who are procrastinators. I help those students to be more organized in several ways. The first important item is to show them how to have an organized notebook with blank paper and dividers. Many students do not know about this, and once I show them how to set up their dividers, they are very happy. Secondly, I show them how to use the school agenda. It is comparable to an adult's Daily Planner. Again, once I show them how to read and use the planner, most of the students ar very grateful. It is up to them to continue to use both items diligently, but I am always around to help them if they get off track again.j
This quote could apply to so many unpleasant things we have to deal with in our lives. How many times have we put off paying a credit card bill we didn't feel like paying until we ultimately get so far in over our heads that cost of paying off the bill far outweighs the amount of the bill in the first place? It's such a common mistake, ignoring things and hoping they'll go away but they never do and the problem becomes overwhelming and too big to handle. So much like how we as adults need to figure out a constructive way to deal with the things we adults don't want to do like the pay the bills, we need to help our students find constructive ways to deal with the unpleasantness of doing school work. Using the adult world as an example, how do we go about reminding ourselves that the bill is due or that we need to make a dentist appointment? And what if we can't pay off the bill then what do we do? We need to teach our students to write things down, to ask for help if they can't do it, we need to teach them strategies so that they do not become overwhelmed or so far behind that they just give up. We need to help them break that cycle. We need to encourage them to ask for help and to teach them organizational strategies so they can have a chance to catch up and to break that cycle of falling behind and becoming overwhelmed.
Meredith
Each of us have experienced a situation where we knew we should have worked on something but just didn't do it, pushing it further behind. It is our responsibility as educators to teach student how to manage their work especially if the student struggles with the assignments so these kinds of situations occur less often for them. When things are aversive and repel us, we naturally will find a way to avoid it. this is the same tactic students use to avoid work they feel they cannot do. Teaching them strategies and organizational skills will certainly help, but the overall thing the student will need to know is why they avoid certain activities.
-Michelle Cloutier
I think that if a teacher expects their student to be consistent in there work, then the teacher must also do so. Consistently keeping up on a students work is one of the teachers main responsibilities. They should have an assignment book that keeps track of all assignments. When they see a student consistently missing assignments they need to meet with him or her to get to the root of the problem. This needs to be done right away though. The student in this example was left to figure out his/her problem on their own, and they obviously could not. As a teacher, I would hope to be able to keep up with all of my students progress or lack thereof. As a student falls behind they may begin to think they are incapable of catching up. This can lead to learned helplessness or a careless attitude to cover up shame. I would want to have a good relationship with each of my students in order to avoid any feelings of shame or embarrassment on their part. As a teacher I would want to be portrayed as a safe and caring person for students to come to to discuss when and why they may be falling behind.
Stephanie Garcia
I have worked with students with this exact issue. In fact, as a middle and high school student I often felt the same way. I have used strategies which I found to be helpful in my own life to help the students I now work with today. As a second and then third grade teacher, I worked with the same students for two years. This allowed me to not only see the progress that my students had made, but also to continue to work with those students who struggled with specific issues. One of my students in particular, had expressed similar feelings as the quote from this blog. I had to find a way for my student to feel that the work was manageable. One instance was the biography book report that I had assigned four weeks prior to the due date. I often checked in with my students to determine whether they were on track. I even sent home a checklist with suggested dates, so that parents could help their children move along at an appropriate pace. My student, however, had much more going on at home than any of my other students. So I would check in with him periodically to ensure he was on task. I later learned that it would have been more prudent to ask him to bring in the work as I checked with him, rather than simply asking if he had done it. The Friday before the assignment was due, I checked in with him one last time. It was then that he told me that he had not completed the assignment, let alone read the book that he was supposed to have read. He said that he had been so busy the first week that he hadn't had time to do the first part of the assignment. Then, by the second week, he panicked because he still had not read the book. Finally, the week before the assignment was due, he claimed he wanted to tell me that he needed help, but he was worried I would call home. I explained to him that I understood how these things can happen, but that it was always best to speak with me as soon as possible to find a solution. I ended up finding a book that was a bit shorter, and creating a more simplistic checklist (which still included all of the points, just grouped together differently), for him to take home and complete. I also gave him a two-day extension by allowing him to do his presentation on the last day possible. I told him that I would have to call home, but that I would explain the situation in a way that his parents could help him. My student ended up completing the assignment, although not as well as I believe he could have had he taken the appropriate amount of time. From that experience, I learned that I need to not only create checklists with "suggested dates" but it was easier for both my students and myself to have students turn in parts of the assignments as they went along. This new approach helped make these large tasks more manageable for the students as well as gave me a chance to really check in and determine whether any of my students were in trouble. My student still comes to me on occasion, even though I do not teach him, to tell me that he is trying to use "steps" to help him. He says he still gets overwhelmed, but that he likes the feeling of completing the assignment better than when he feels "stressed." I know from my colleagues that this is still an issue for him, and I simply offer the suggestions based on what I have found to work for him. I think that my own experiences of procrastination and overwhelming feelings help me to understand my students more. However, my strategies that I have had to incorporate in my own life, I now use to help my students.
by Margaux Badalato
Unfortunately what also happens after the student is “too far behind to do anything about it” is that the child/student feels awful. Their self-esteem is impacted because of their own bad feelings and all the negative feedback they receive because of their failure. It is much favorable, to head this off at the pass and help the student with some strategies for time management and organization. Of course, in the classroom, the teacher should teach all of the students these strategies, as everyone can use them. A good daily homework assignment planner is essential. I’ve seen these used very successfully starting in a third grade class. In this class, the teacher also had a system – a peer check- for making sure that the homework assignments that were written on the board, were actually copied down into the planner by the student. This teacher also posted her homework on a website, which is almost essential if a teacher needs the participation of a parent in helping the student monitor their progress. This is because, even with peer-checks of homework assignments, sometimes the assignment planners never make it home. The planner is left somewhere by the student or somehow didn’t make it into the backpack. There are many ways for the planner not to make it home! If the goal is for the student not to get behind, then they have to be able to know what the assignment is. Calling a friend to ask about the assignment is not always reliable and difficult for younger children. A second set of textbooks for home use only, is very helpful if the student perpetually forgets their text at school.
For long-term assignments, it is also helpful to have a big, uncluttered calendar in the class that shows the due-date of the project. A large project should also have interim steps that the student needs to meet. The “chunking” of a large project helps the student enormously, and makes it easier for a teacher to monitor the students’ progress. If the student is not meeting these goals, then an intervention is needed to find out what is going on. Perhaps the student doesn’t understand the assignment and needs help starting it.
From a personal perspective, in my house we have a large white board calendar that we write my son’s important due dates on plus his other extra-curricular activities. This helps him manage his time better because he can see how he needs to use his time well when he can. (Of course many times I am the only one looking at this board). Also, sometimes it’s helpful to have my son predict how much time he thinks something is going to take him to complete. He’ll make an estimate and then we’ll time how long it actually took to complete the assignment. Sometimes the initial estimate is close and at other times it’s days off. However, it has helped in making him cognizant of time management.
Lesley Lauer
SPED 504MM
I know that I can relate to this quote, but I always knew that I would catch up and eventually I did. Unfortunately, there are those who just get behind and more behind,and don't know how to catch up. It's hard to see students who just seem to keep falling behind and want to catch up, but feel it's too late. To help these students, I would recommend sending a weekly reminder home for the student to check off or highlight the assignments that have been completed.It is also important for the parents to have a copy, because I am pretty sure when parents ask their kids if they have homework, sometimes the response is "no, not today". A checklist seems to be very helpful for all students, even if they are not behind because it keeps them on track.
Like many have commented, I can relate to this quote as well. For me personally, I remember when I was a student and forget to do something, like an assignment or quiz, my mentality was that since I’ve already missed getting my full points, I shouldn’t try as hard finishing it. Sometimes, I didn’t even bother finishing it. There are many students that I work with who struggle in the same way. I know one student who hardly turns in homework and doesn’t even make up the work when the teacher tells him to. I can see that he gets so frustrated with the loads and loads of incomplete work he needs to turn in before grades are due. It discourages and overwhelms him to not even try making it up. This continues on class after class and year after year. In order to help students keep up with work that they have to complete, teachers need to help them with organization skills and use other strategies for them to be engaged and motivated to finish their work. Teachers can have student write down their homework in an agenda and sign it each time to make sure they wrote it down. If students benefit from knowing what the class is going to cover ahead of time, teachers can have a weekly agenda with detailed information about lesson plans, classwork, and homework. The agenda’s can be posted online for students and parents so they can access them anywhere. Teachers can also pass out a bi-weekly progress report so that students can keep track of their work and not be overwhelmed with loads of make up work at the end of the semester. Students can make a check list and check off all assignments they have finished so far. I’ve seen teachers team up with parents and get them involved at home.
Grace Lee
"I get a little behind and I don't feel like dealing with it, so I put it behind me. Then I get more behind and I don't feel like bothering with it. Then I am too far behind to do anything about it. And unfortunately, that is the way it happens every year."
Children need guidance. Every child needs a good role model - a mentor or hero - to look up to. They should have a model of exemplary behaviour, or else how will they know what the right way to succeed in life will be? We often imitate the actions of those closest to us, but these are often not the best role models. While our family members might have certain good qualities, it is more difficult to find the person who is skilled at their job, a good sports player, a good student, a reliable friend, mate... Rather, it is up to those close to the student to model certain behaviours, and point out exemplary behaviours in others when they occur.
This student needs an intervention of sorts. He (or she) needs a role model, whom he respects, to step in and show him that he can stop his downward spiral if he acts now. Leaving things only compounds the problem. This has evidently become a pattern of behaviour for this students. It has developed into a pattern of learned helplessness, and also a self-fulfilling prophecy.
He will probably fall at a little behind at the beginning of the year because this is the behaviour he is accustomed to. Then as he has fallen behind, he gives up, following the patterns he has developed in the past. As I said, he needs an intervention where someone steps in and shows him a different, more productive and healthy way to approach his school activities.
- Simon Shlosberg
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