Why do students come to school if they’re not going to try, refuse to do their classwork....or even more frustrating, distract other students from doing theirs.
Every day teachers turn up fully intending to teach the curriculum, help their students to learn, and hoping their charges will do well in the subject and achieve their educational and life goals.
However sometimes this doesn't happen...
Last week I attended my daughter's Year 10, parent teacher interviews.
Now I know in one of her classes, (which is a Year 11 VCE subject) there are four, 16-year-old boys who turn up, but would prefer to do anything, but the classwork that is set for them. (I hear all the stories, some very amusing, about the antics of these boys, from my daughter.)
Me being 'me', raised this with the teacher.... 'teacher to teacher'.
I told him I had heard about these boys and he responded very professionally and told me this did happen but didn't provide names or details.
So... I asked him one question WHY? Why when he sets a task like reading from the text book and answering two questions...
Does Student A always ask to fill his drink bottle?
Does Student B ask to go to the toilet?
Does Student C start talking about a party on the weekend?
And Student D, why has he already done all the work at home, so he’s already completed the reading and answered all the questions? And because he’s already finished, he pokes and prods the boy next to him?
Are you wondering WHY too?
WHY do these boys continually waste valuable class time? Do they want to fail their subject? Don't they care about their future? Why are they always distracting others and creating mayhem and uproar in class, leaving their teacher frustrated and angry?
Do you want to know how he could fix this, how this teacher could turn these boys around and get them motivated? The teacher admitted most of them were super smart.
If you want to know how this teacher could get these boys on the fast track to success….read on.
When children start school they fully intend to do well and make their teachers, their parents and themselves proud
BUT… what happens when they struggle to learn and, on some occasions, fail?
A range of things can happen; they get very quiet, they get very loud, they become the class clown, they find a way to compensate or they become outrageously naughty.
This is because smart children will do anything rather than be seen as dumb and stupid in front of their peers and family.
All a teacher needs to do, is to start observing these students through a different lense. Don’t ask WHAT is that child doing, instead ask WHY is that child doing that?
It starts with observing students and profiling their learning strengths and weaknesses and it ends with providing teaching support in the form of teaching and learning strategies, knowing which technology and accommodations to offer when appropriate.
Would you like to know exactly how to do this?
A new video-based (30-min) online, on-demand, teacher training course has just launched.
It is titled Teacher Training for Students with Neurodiversity – Accredited Training in Specific Learning Difficulties.
Just launched at the end of July 2019, the uptake for this course has been huge. Hundreds of teachers have already completed the training with many principals getting their whole staff onboard. This is the training all teachers should have received during their teacher training.
This course has Australia wide NESA approval and is backed by the UK Ed. Dept, the British Dyslexia Association and PATOSS. You can find out more here www.getintoneurodiversity.com.
Get ready for students to become engaged and more motivated to do well in your class. You won’t be disappointed, and you’ll receive a complete toolkit of specialised teaching resources and an accredited certificate of completion for your resume or classroom wall.
For more information please contact Liz Dunoon at www.getintoneurodiversity.com