I have this student named James. he has some anxiety issues. Major anxiety issues.
So every wednesday, he comes into my classroom during his study hall so that I can "help" him with his homework.
And every wednesday, I ask him what he needs help with. Just to stick with tradition.
And every wednesday, he tells me he needs me to show him how to do everything.
And again, for purposes of tradition, I patiently (or not so patiently, depending on the week) let him know that I cannot do his homework for him. So he breathes heavily so that I will know just how frustrating I am being.
Then we work through his homework. And every week, it turns out he knows how to do all of the problems without my help.
But every week, his pen runs out of ink. So he yells at it for ruining his life. And scribbles all over his homework in an attempt to get hie pen to work again.
And then we continue working, during which he narrates every. single. step. And somewhere about halfway through he gets mad again, because he forgot to convert units or multiplied wrong or something, and again he starts yelling at anything in general, when he really wants to yell at me. Lucky fo rhim, he would know that heads would roll if he tried yelling at me, so he takes his anger out on the general space around him. During this time, I usually walk out of the room. Because, seriously. It's homework. Get a grip.
But this is our tradition.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
wednesday afternoon ritual
Posted by poodle at 11:29 AM
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5 comments:
Aw. Try not to be too hard on him.
It sounds like he has learning issues similar to mine. Never diagnosed but it had a lot to do with anxiety and confidence.
Especially in the math and science field. Just when I thought I was catching on, they'd introduce something else to foul me up.
like aerobics class... just when I would figure out the grapevine they'd switch to a new move and I was lost all over again!
So normally, even when I thought I might know the answer - I'd prefer to say 'I don't know' rather than be wrong in front of everybody.
Then there is test anxiety.... whoo don't even start. But if he exhibits test anxiety I totally relate! See what you can find to help him.
If he's asking for your help... I bet he is just looking for confirmation. If you have the time or the inclination - show him that he's right... that he really does know it. He just needs confidence.
I do that thing about blaming objects for poor performance too! I don't know why... mostly I expect a pen to do what a pen is supposed to do - I get flustered when it doesn't - and I want people to know that I'm not an idiot who doesn't know how to use a pen.
i promise, i am actually very nice to him. i realize that this is probably a result of some learning problems or possibly some MAJOR pressure from his parents. (i'm actually pretty sure his parents are a significant factor here.) so i feel kind of bad for him, it's just so amusing to me that we go through the same thing week after week. he's improving, though.
has mom diagnosed him yet?
Poodle,
I can tell by the way you write about it that you are kind to him.
I was thinking about my tendancy to make too much of pens that don't work and that sort of thing... and I think it has to do with... I was so much slower than everyone else... that it really frustrated me if something didn't work... I felt, "Geesh I'm already behind, the last thing I need to do is search for a new pen (or whatever)"
Anyway I just relate because no one bothered to understand why I had so much trouble - Until I was in college - then my college boyfriend's mom specialized in 'the gifted programs' at the school where she was a teacher. So of course she was trained to identify learning disabilities too. She's the one who finally recognized what was going on. But by then I had found ways to cope - even if they weren't exactly productive.
It's just frustrating to think that I had to work so much harder than everyone else just to get by.
I was always pretty smart... my reading skills were phenomenal... comprehension was always high... so they just thought I had a attitude problem about the rest. If I had been in the sort of school where people were trained to identify those things... and not just write me off as difficult... imagine my potential.
I think he's just crushing on you.
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