After a horrible day yesterday, and despite the lousy weather, today showed a ray of sunshine in terms of my teaching. I felt that I started to reach two kids, though in very different ways.
One of my advisees has been struggling in all his classes. In my class, I've noticed that he will work for a few minutes and then put his head down on his desk until prompted to pick it up. His other teachers confirmed that he is the same in every class - and as a result failed several classes first marking period because of missing work, even though he is in class practically every day.
When I gave a self-evaluation out in advisory, he responded saying that he is a lazy person and should stop being so lazy in his classes. Somehow, though, I knew that that wasn't it. I could tell that he was trying and that he wasn't just lazy. I conferenced with him, asking him about home and how he felt about himself. Everything led me to believe that he was experiencing some form of depression. Having gone through something similar myself, I recognized many of his symptoms and worried that he would deny it. So I brought up my own experiences and told him that I was concerned he might be feeling the same way I had. He agreed right away to go to a depression screening today - and came back saying "Miss, you were right." He is going to have an initial counseling appointment tomorrow and his afternoon classes already saw an improvement in his attitude. I hope it helps in the long run.
The second kid is the exact opposite: one of the most disruptive kids in the class, obviously extremely smart but will not apply himself. I figured part of his behavior issues came from being bored and uninterested in the material in front of him. I knew that he is into computers, so I hit upon the idea of starting a computer club after school for him, on the condition that he behave during the school day. Last Tuesday was the first meeting and I didn't let him go because of his behavior. This week, he has been markedly improved, especially when I drop word of the club. Today, he sat and did work for nearly the whole period and yesterday, he even came for extra help because he has missed much of the material by refusing to sit still.
This afternoon, in computer club, I saw a completely different side of him. He was engaged and quiet, and though he still burst out every now and then, all of his comments were on-task! I'm excited to use the club as a way to connect with him and give him positive reinforcement for doing well in school. And I better brush up on my Java because he wants to learn...
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