Students Who Drive You Crazy by Kottler Jeffrey A.;Kottler Ellen;

Author:Kottler, Jeffrey A.;Kottler, Ellen; [Kottler, Jeffrey A.; Kottler, Ellen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 1994171
Publisher: Corwin Press
Published: 2008-08-22T00:00:00+00:00

RECOGNIZING ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND STRENGTHS

With all the discussion we have devoted to looking at students who are difficult and annoying, it is important to also give sufficient weight to their strengths and resources. No matter how troubled a person may be, everyone has something that they do well and makes some contribution to the group (even if only for entertainment value).

Natasha couldn’t sit still for more than a minute or two at a time. She was constantly squirming, fidgeting, changing positions, moving around, always in motion as if her little body was too small to contain all her energy. As soon as any thought crept into her head, she just had to say it out loud, no matter how inappropriate or how poor the timing. To say that she had poor impulse control was an understatement.

Natasha’s teacher tried everything to restrain the little girl—time-outs, limit-setting, consultations with parents, referrals for a medical/psychological evaluation, all to no avail. Even more difficult was that the teacher was becoming progressively frustrated to the point that she felt her whole class was “polluted” with Natasha’s distractions. The teacher found it difficult to concentrate, waiting for another outburst or interruption.

It was during a conversation to a colleague about the little girl that the teacher heard what a remarkable athlete Natasha was, a budding star on a local soccer team that had mostly boys on the squad. She was also an up-and-coming gymnast. Clearly, she had talent and other outlets to express her restless spirit. Once the teacher learned about this other facet of Natasha’s life, it was much easier to demonstrate patience and understanding. Even when the girl’s behavior didn’t change that much during the semester, the teacher found it much easier to respond with calmness instead of anger.

It is important to remember that every student has some strengths and skills. Often the hardest part is taking the time to figure out what those might be and finding ways to balance the negative attention with some things that are more positive.

Look for examples of areas in which students are successful. Find work to praise. A helpful framework is to think about the student in terms of the multiple intelligences described by Gardner (1983) in which he identified several domains of competence from the traditional verbal and mathematical to interpersonal, visual, spatial, and naturalist areas. You can plan lesson activities to incorporate the multiple intelligences, as well as select your assessments based on them.

Once you identify students’ strengths, you can also redirect their energy toward positive uses in the classroom in ways that will help you and the other students (see Table 5.1).

Help students to evaluate their own work and recognize their achievements (Mah, 2007). In this way students develop greater self-esteem and a sense of competence in at least one area in which they can excel.

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