Back in the Groove

Today was our second day back from a week off because of the flu and I was told today that if attendance does not get better by tomorrow then we will be out for the next two days. The two other schools in the county have already called school off for the next two days. Two days does not sound bad but nest week is fall break, that means we will have missed 12 days and went 3. It is hard to keep a rhythm with the kids. In the last post I talked about my favorite quote, they don't care how much you know until they know how much you care. I think that I showed a student in class today that I care about what he does and how he is progressing. This student knows his weakness and is really not interested in fixing it, he likes to have a reason why he can't do his work. Today I told him the only way that I would help him is if he first tried on his own. I was not going to just show him how to do things with out him making an effort and showing some work first. I am not sure if this will work for the rest of the semester but today he seemed to do more work. I understand that he does not type well and reads below level but I still want him to try and show me what he can do. This is out of Teaching with Love and Logic book, I am trying to show him that I want him to do the work, this will help both parties involved. If this works then I will try it on more and more students to see the outcome before I accept this as a good way to teach students who real do not want to work.

Never let life's hardships disturb you... no one can avoid problems, not even saints or sages.
Nichiren Daishonen