How To Handle A Student Whose Grades (And Behavior) Have Dropped

If you’re a regular reader of SCM, and therefore a keen observer of your class, a drop in a student’s grades, performance, and behavior becomes quickly noticeable.

We’re used to this, of course.

All students have ups and downs over a long school year.

If you’re like most teachers, however, your normal response may be doing more harm than good.

You see, it’s common to immediately pull struggling students aside for a chat.

This may include a series of questions, a lecture, and perhaps an ending pep-talk.

Some teachers may even slip in a threat or bribe for future reward. But it’s all a mistake—even, in most circumstances, pulling them aside.

The reason is that it prevents students from fighting through and overcoming trials and tribulations all on their own, which is infinitely more instructive.

Students know they’re struggling. They can feel it and see it in their sinking percentages and increase in behavior consequences. Like all people, though, it takes time to work through.

It takes time to slow the submarine and get it pointed back toward the surface.

They may be dealing with difficulty or unpleasantness at home. They may have friendship drama or disappointment over a recent sports or academic failure.

They may simply be feeling lazy.

Whatever the case, it’s best to give them time to think, evaluate, and decide a course of action. I’m not suggesting that you never speak to them about their struggles.

However, just waiting a few days—up to a week depending on your grade level—before intervening can provide a boost in confidence that is worth its weight in gold.

When a student through grit and determination is able to rejoin the peloton of their own accord it makes them more resilient.

Stepping in too soon interferes with this process. You become an external force that blows in, interrupts their introspection, and tries to do for them what only they can do. This causes paralysis, learned helplessness, and unhealthy dependence on others.

It removes their fight.

It extinguishes their intrinsic desire to improve and change their life circumstances—which is a trait the happiest, most successful people share and that many of our students are in short supply.

Remember, our goal as teachers isn’t to get our students through the day, or even the school year, but to impact them for a lifetime.

But what happens if a week or so has past and you haven’t noticed any change for the better?

Then you pull them aside. Only, instead of telling them what they need to do or trying to convince them to work harder, you’re going to give them a little push by asking one simple, open-ended question:

“I notice you’re not doing as well lately. Are you okay?”

What this does is twofold:

First, it prompts them to talk through what they’re experiencing and begin to come to their own conclusions about what best to do about it. You become a mere listening board, a trusted confidant who can nod and encourage them in the right direction.

Second, it gives you the green light to add your own wisdom and experience.

The goal, however, is to guide them in the thinking process and toughmindedness it takes to face challenges head on and come out the other side stronger than before.

It’s important to note that if at any time you suspect bullying, trauma, homelessness, mental health issues, etc. or that they’re in a potentially dangerous situation, you must always and immediately step in.

But this is a rare circumstance.

In most cases, waiting and allowing a student to work through the challenges that are part of every human experience is far better for them.

Because it prepares them for the future. It infuses in them with a wellspring of confidence they can tap into anytime they need it.

It provides the tools we all need to survive, reverse course, and thrive in the end.

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