His head was down, hoodie pulled over his eyes. The frustration radiating out of him, the dry erase board lay there untouched, unwritten, and I thought to myself, "again? Seriously..." And the irritation in me kept growing. This kid who obviously didn't get what I was teaching had just given up, how dare he. So I coaxed, I goaded, I even raised my voice a little trying to let him know that the choices he was making was not going to help him learn anything. That I needed to be the center of his universe for him to understand it. That we were not going down this road again today.
In my mind I knew I was going to have "the talk" with him once class was done. I was going to tell him how unacceptable his behavior was, how disrespectful, how I would be emailing mom and speaking to his homeroom teacher. I was going to give it to him good too because all I could see when I was teaching was that head down, hoodie up and that just wasn't acceptable.
When class ended, he approached the table and I looked up and saw his look of sheer resignation, the, "Uh oh I am going to get it now and I don't care because I just don't get it" attitude streaming from him. So I said, "I noticed how tough math was for you today, how you had given up..." and I hesitated, noticed his downward glance. "So I want to thank you for continuing to try, for not thinking I was crazy in my explanations. Please keep reaching out for help and I will try to get to you as soon as I can. I know you can learn this, don't forget that."
Eyes up, shoulders back, and out he walked from my room. Who knows what Monday will bring.
In my mind I knew I was going to have "the talk" with him once class was done. I was going to tell him how unacceptable his behavior was, how disrespectful, how I would be emailing mom and speaking to his homeroom teacher. I was going to give it to him good too because all I could see when I was teaching was that head down, hoodie up and that just wasn't acceptable.
When class ended, he approached the table and I looked up and saw his look of sheer resignation, the, "Uh oh I am going to get it now and I don't care because I just don't get it" attitude streaming from him. So I said, "I noticed how tough math was for you today, how you had given up..." and I hesitated, noticed his downward glance. "So I want to thank you for continuing to try, for not thinking I was crazy in my explanations. Please keep reaching out for help and I will try to get to you as soon as I can. I know you can learn this, don't forget that."
Eyes up, shoulders back, and out he walked from my room. Who knows what Monday will bring.
