----- Original Message ----- From: Chris < Sent: Wednesday, December 05, 2001 Subject: How do you help a HS student who doesn't care? > I've got this High School student in Basic Drawing. He's failing. His drawing level is average, but I grade on effort, so his reason for failing comes down to just not doing enough work. I've tried and tried to convince him to do the work needed to pass. He's really unresponsive. His favorite answer to any inquiry is a non-commital "I don't know." I contacted his mom and she told me he just doesn't care because he "doesn't need the class to graduate." Tell me, what would you do? > I've put in so much time and effort thinking and acting on the student. I'm very discouraged. > Please tell me of any similar experiences you've had, and how you dealt with the frustration. > Thanks Again, > Chris in Chicago-land NSCERTMAP.0 PASS.xx PROCESS RAW about.tar artsednet.Dec01 comment.out daemonstat.192.215.101.10.80 daemonstat.192.215.101.50.9995 daemonstat.192.215.101.51.80 daemonstat.192.215.101.9.80 daemonstat.any.9999 global.tar hypermail.err hypermail.log lock.https-admserv.9999 lock.https-trustee.getty.edu.9999 ps_data wtmp.out wtmp.stat Chris, For what it is worth, I offer this true story about a similar student. I call it "Love Prevails" Jim was in my general art class. He attended class faithfully, never really caused any trouble, but he never did any work in class. I was a second year teacher. I tried everything I could think of to get him motivated. I talked to him about it and told him that he could not expect to get credit without working. Jim said he did not need the credit to graduate. We did have several other punishments available. One was to transfer the student out of the class into a study hall, and this made the most sense to me. However, we had been told by the principal not to use that provision. He told us, "Students do not fail. Teachers fail. When we put them in study hall they less likely to learn anything." After trying everything I knew to motivate this student, I told the vice-principal that the situation was too demoralizing for the rest of the class. He agreed and signed the transfer to study hall. I showed the transfer authorization to Jim. I explained that it only needed my signature to be official. I gave him a choice, if he would work on his assignments in class I would simply keep the slip locked in my file. However, the first day he failed to work I would sign the slip and he would be in study hall. He agreed without any discussion. Every day for the remainder of the term he worked along with everybody else. I am not saying his effort was outstanding, but it was average and he got credit. When I asked Jim, "Why did you decide to work rather than transfer to study hall?" Jim said, "Because my girl friend is in this class." Love does make the world go around. Of course there are a number of kinds of love. Teaching sometimes requires tough love. -- Marvin Bartel NSCERTMAP.0 PASS.xx PROCESS RAW about.tar artsednet.Dec01 comment.out daemonstat.192.215.101.10.80 daemonstat.192.215.101.50.9995 daemonstat.192.215.101.51.80 daemonstat.192.215.101.9.80 daemonstat.any.9999 global.tar hypermail.err hypermail.log lock.https-admserv.9999 lock.https-trustee.getty.edu.9999 ps_data wtmp.out wtmp.stat This is a recent essay where I discuss some of the issues around motivating students who feel they have no talent. http://www.goshen.edu/art/ed/talent.html NSCERTMAP.0 PASS.xx PROCESS RAW about.tar artsednet.Dec01 comment.out daemonstat.192.215.101.10.80 daemonstat.192.215.101.50.9995 daemonstat.192.215.101.51.80 daemonstat.192.215.101.9.80 daemonstat.any.9999 global.tar hypermail.err hypermail.log lock.https-admserv.9999 lock.https-trustee.getty.edu.9999 ps_data wtmp.out wtmp.stat