The culture of teaching says that you must support, support, support.
You must do more, give more, talk more.
So when you notice a student who you know has the ability just sitting there, producing zero work, you get nervous. You pace, tap your toes, walk by a couple of times.
But inevitably, you won’t resist the pull.
You kneel down next to them to have a chat. You ask why. You gently prod and poke for information. You offer extra help. You encourage and cajole and urge.
You may even mention the possibility of staying in for recess or losing privileges.
And if it continues beyond a few days, you’ll consider putting them on a carrot-and-stick contract or referring them to the counselor for more talk.
But all those interventions, all that focus and concern and hand-wringing, only make things worse. They only make the student more entrenched and resistant.
Why?
Because students who don’t work are seeking control, first and foremost. They’re feeling as if they’re losing their ability to make their own choices. And not doing their work is something they alone can decide.
Whether nature or nurture, some people have a stronger need for freedom and self-determinism. They bristle when this need is threatened—especially when coming from all around them. Home. School. Life.
So they resist. They push back. They refuse to budge.
So what should you do about it?
Nothing. Yes, really. I know it sounds blasphemy, but letting them be is the best thing you can do for them. The choice to work must be theirs. Only then will they start focusing, producing, and progressing.
And not in the phony way we can sometimes get them moving by offering rewards or threatening punishment—which doesn’t last. But in a way that is real and sustaining.
Remove their need to resist and give them their control and freedom of choice back. It’s that simple.
In the meantime, and this is key, do your job well. Be of good humor and build trusting rapport with every student using SCM principles. Protect their right to learn and enjoy school without interference by following your classroom management plan.
And most important, teach compelling lessons.
Give your students a reason to want to listen, learn, and do their work by being an expert in your content area. Go deep not wide. Allow them to draw conclusions and think for themselves instead of tarnishing it with your own opinions.
Tell stories. Dramatize. Build things. Get them up and moving. Create confidence through longer and longer independent work sessions.
Stop coddling and start challenging. Provide context. Quit focusing on individual students and start focusing on better direct instruction for all students.
And you’ll draw them in.
They’ll forget about their outside world and inside angst and the experience of being in your classroom will be one long flow, where time flies and they lose themselves in learning. In this way, you’ll never have a student who doesn’t want to work.
It’s not the student.
It’s us. We have to do better. We have to know and understand what really motivates students instead of assuming that they’re the problem.
No, I’m not blaming you. Public education and its culture of coddling and excuses is failing and infecting everything we do.
But you have the power right there in your classroom to change lives.
And it isn’t so difficult. Decide to take full responsibility for teaching great lessons and shift full responsibility for listening, learning, and behaving over to your students.
Make them care through your compelling content and delivery and then hand it over to them to do the work, solve for x, write the essay.
Combined with the freedom to do it or not do it, and the natural consequences therein, is what causes them to want to move. —Even the most stubborn student who feels as if they’re confined to a wardrobe box.
They’re waiting, you see, for somebody, anybody, to take charge and stop treating the class like helpless new-born puppies. They’re dying for inspiration and purpose and maturity.
They want to be stirred and challenged, if only you’ll give it them, along with the one thing what we all desire deep down.
The freedom to succeed or fail all on our own.
PS – Our new e-guide, The Smart Exercise Plan for Teachers, will be available on Tuesday, March 1st right here on the website.
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I love your posts. They inspire me.
Do you have a description of a compelling lesson?
Yes he does. Read “The Happy Teacher Habits” for more information! It’s a great guide!
For me, alarm bells are going off. I have an Autistic ADHD speech/language/learning delayed son who was identified at an early age to need a great deal of support. In Illinois, he received that support at my urging and he learned. He was catching up with the general Ed students.
Then we moved to Tennessee. Here, the teachers have decided that the entirety of support that he needs is to be removed from class 2 hours per week to be read stories far below his reading level. His math teacher, 2 months into the school year, as they were working on long division, didn’t even know that my son wasn’t able to do simple division.
His teachers told me at the first parent teacher conference how lazy he was. All he did was sit there. They KNEW he had the ability to complete his work (that he didn’t understand). He was given many lectures on the benefits of hard work which resulted in my son feeling like a failure with no hope. It also resulted in his dropping 2 reading levels in a single year. After my outrage, the teachers expected my son to tell them how to help him. Then began rewarding him, with candy, for not asking for help but simply writing literally anything down and handing it in. These people had the nerve to call my son lazy.
Kneeling beside a child and asking why they’re not doing their work is insufficient. Engaging lessons are helpful but if the student is doing nothing then an assessment needs to be completed. Relying on 20 years of teaching to gauge a child’s learning ability is insufficient.
As a general Ed teacher who has a student with severe autism (with parents who won’t even admit that he has special needs, but he sits in a corner most of the day with his eyes crossed, banging on his desk, or making animal noises), I can’t say this loud enough: YOU have the responsibility to get your child the educational experience he needs and deserves. General Ed teachers are not trained to teach students who aren’t “general”. It is WAY above our pay grade. If you know your child has special needs, don’t pack him off to public school and complain that the teachers with 30+ other students can’t fix him. Work with your pediatrician and a specialist to find out what resources are available. Inclusion these days has been a huge disservice to public education with the rising prevalence of “special needs”. We are already doing emotional and intellectuals gymnastics to get all of the ADHD and behaviorally defiant students up to speed since COVID. We often have to disrupt our teaching to clear the classroom because a frustrated child with special needs goes into a rage of frustration and becomes a safety issue. The system is no longer built for this level of “inclusion”.
Amen! 3rd grade SPED teacher here (2 yrs in life skills/ alternative curriculum class)
Parents have to start taking some responsibility. The Education system is going down fast, at least in TX it is. Please help!!!
Amen! Thank you
As a speech language pathologist in a school district, I agree 100%. I currently have a caseload of 125 students. There is no way that I can provide adequate services to a caseload this large on my own. I am in a state with zero caseload limits and every year the numbers increase. Along with the never-ending increase in caseload numbers, comes piles of related paperwork for each student. Approximately 35 of my students are minimally verbal or nonverbal. This is ridiculous! We are losing therapists and ESE teachers because of this.
I agree with this 100% I have 2 sons with ADHD. One barely graduated high school and I was shocked through out at how much teachers just didn’t seem to care. He was obviously bright and understood the content, but struggled to get work done. It wasn’t because he was lazy it because he wanted control in his life. He would come home from school and spend hours trying to do assignments and still not be able to get work done. Lumping all students that have a hard time doing assignments into a ” they just want control” category seems way off base. I would bet a higher percentage of these students have need help due to neurodeversity and have an actual desire to do work and succeed than are just playing power games with you.
Hear! Hear! When I first started teaching, I would beg, plead, and negotiate with my high school students to do something, anything. I would have long talks with them about life goals and about what kind of man or woman they wanted to be. I may as well have been standing in my living room at home, lecturing the sofa.
I’m a much better, more interesting teacher now. I don’t have many students who refuse to engage. But when I get one, I ignore the behavior. As long as they are not disturbing other students, they can sit there and do nothing. I don’t give extra credit work to students who have been slacking off and I don’t allow them to make up assignments they could have done in class, unless there are very special circumstances.
Those two things, keeping class interesting and moving along and not allowing them to make it up later, get almost every student motivated to engage with what we’re doing. We also do a fair amount of group work, and nobody likes a slacker in their group, so peer pressure works too.
When my students do group work they will do “the slackers” work for him. Drives me crazy!
That happens to me once in a while. But I’m always silently observing, so I know what’s going on. Sometimes I’ll ask someone in the group and they will tell me. But generally, they get sick of doing other people’s work and they come tell me. In most group activities I try to have at least one component students need to do individually. Nothing is ever perfect, but this has worked better than anything else I’ve tried, and I don’t stress anymore over trying to convince one student to do the work. Just my two cents: I’m always open to other ideas.
As an elementary teacher I can just say “ok you can do it now or during recess. You’re choice.” And walk away. Most students suddenly work because recess is on the line. Those one or two that want to see if they’ll truly miss recess learn the hard way…and then from that day forward they suddenly work a lot harder. I have sympathy for my teacher friends who are not allowed to take away recess.
Big Thank You for sharing. I totally agree. I believe that once the student KNOW up front your expectations and know that you mean what you say, we as teachers get better results.
And how do you grade in Competency Grade Education a child who does nothing? I teach art and feel this article is saying my lessons are boring. I need to inspire the kids better to want to do art. OK, thanks. Big help.
I’m sure your lessons are awesome. the article was a little on the nose. I could perform magic tricks, I still have a student who won’t do work.
I am sure your lessons are wonderful. Some kids will use any excuse to not complete and submit work from “this is boring” to “I didn’t want this class but I have to take it” to “this is too hard” to “I already know this”. Therefore, it is NOT teachers’ fault! Students have to feel their individual responsibility and not cry to their counselor, to admin and to their parent/guardian just to get out of doing any and all assignments. That is where this article is simply wrong and misses the mark. We are blamed for everything: not being rigorous enough, being too demanding, not being flexible, going overboard with support, not being a performer, not using digital tricks to engage students, being overly enamored with digital tricks rather than engage students with other tools.
Take this writer’s opinions with a grain of salt. These are simply his OPINIONS.
While it’s true that this article puts blame on teachers and it’s not quite right, it’s also not the students fault. They could have anything going on in their life- what it should say is that sometimes not everything is perfect and failure insues. That’s okay, but you’re the leader and must lead. Conforming to students needs, including letting them fail and try again when needed.
He is not blame and he make that clear. He is impowering. You can’t control the student, but you can control what you do.
Michael could you please clarify—-you said to do nothing if a student won’t work but are you still holding them accountable for their work? Or are they exempt until they feel like it?
It’s not “us.” I’m sorry, but I am unsubscribing to this madness. How many years have you taught in the classroom!?
Agreed. I have a young man who has done nothing for years. He is capable but he doesn’t bother and it has been a theme for 6 years. So it’s not me or his K-5 teachers. It’s him and it’s his problem, not mine.
BINGO!
And parents/guardians are the enablers.
This writer has far too often blamed us, teachers who are in the trenches who are under-appreciated, under paid and over-worked. Finally this has been brought to the klieg lights with the pandemic!
Sorry for typos, everyone, but I am p****d with this writer’s article.
Just another talking head blaming us.
He could be struggling, he could really not get it. Because you have no idea what is going through his head, you don’t know who is really at fault. Sometimes you have to restrategies, some times you have to take a step back, sometimes you have to involve someone else. Engaging parents is important.
Me, too. I’m not accepting that it’s us. We all work so so hard to liven up our lessons, do latest tech, get new books. It’s not fair to say it’s us
Agreed. if it was the whole class, then yes, it’s us. If it’s one student, that tells you everything.
No, it really doesn’t.
Thank you for sharing about your son’s educational experience, Becca75. For some students, a teacher can ignore apathetic behavior ti get them to work. For those who are neuro-atypical, teachers need to work with the student to find out their interests, and yes,, cater instruction to them. I am an elective teacher with mostly Gen Ed students. Im majoring in special education.. There is so much involved in that field. I believe that all general education teachers need to have training in how to meet the needs of students with these different abilities. Each student is different. What works for one doesn’t always work for another. They all can learn though.
Thank you so much for this gem.
I’ve worked hard to make my lessons engaging. I’m using Kagan strategies every way I can. Ultimately, I’m driven by my state standards. Im a writing teacher and I AM EXHAUSTED! This article that flips it ALL back on me is very patronizing and seems like it was written by someone who has NO IDEA what it’s like to be in the classroom.
I usually love these blogs but this one is not addressing the full issue. Some kids who do no work have been coddled for years and know that, even if the teacher provides consistently engaging lessons and leaves the student to decide when to work, their negative behaviour will get rewarded by someone else through conversation, attention, special trips to the gym/office/outside to help them find something they’re ready to do, treats, food…. (it’s a long list) that they don’t presently find ‘boring’. (The kids have learned the many triggering words adults will respond/react to.) An unhealthy village can destroy the health and education of its children.
I agree with his suggestion as a plan, but I don’t believe it’s that easy in today’s public classroom. Kids don’t have to do anything but get older to move onto to the next grade. A report card full of ‘I’ changes nothing. This blog needed/s a part two.
I love your articles, thank you!
This is a great article. But what about when I reward the other students for completing their task? I assume I am not rewarding the child who does nothing. I do not coddle students, but I try to encourage them to do what is being asked of them and I challenge them to do their best. Currently I am being challenged on students who want to cry because they are not rewarded for not doing what is asked, or because they have a timeout while others handle correction well. I do not give into crying; I see it as manipulation to get your way for something you do not deserve. I need help for crying students who do not like to be corrected. This student will cry 15-20 minutes; that is disruptive to my class. I try to ignore it but it is too much. School’s need more of every thing to handle All the situations they have to deal with.
Hi Lilly,
Yeah that’s a tough situation! One of the things Michael teaches is that rewarding students for doing what is already expected of them actually kills their intrinsic motivation.
In my classroom, I don’t reward students. But I will indiscriminately and with absolutely no connection to behavior or grades give students “rewards” simply because I want to. It’s fun, and they love it—and we have good rapport.
As for the crying, sounds like it should be handled like any other disruptive behavior. Warning, followed by time out, then letter home, then office referral if it continues.
No disrespect intended, but I think you’re not considering the other students in the class who faithfully complete their assignments and feel that it’s unfair to give the belligerent student a pass. It breeds resentment among the faithful students, which could potentially cause them to rebel. Moreover, while you are arguing against mollycoddling students, your method effectively mollycoddles the belligerent student.
I totally agree. This advice is terrible as a long term strategy. I’d be ignoring the behaviour for one day only. Then I’d be contacting home
The problem, is there are assignments such as writing, that do need quiet, and time. The other side of the coin, is the kid with his/her head down, is contagious. Why should the other kids even try if not trying gets ignored and no consequence?
Yes, you need great lessons, but it can’ be a circus every day. I ask the kid to either sit way in the back, or to leave the room to a sister classroom. AND you need to be very careful, they are not on a game.
Michael isn’t saying that you give them a free pass – if they don’t do the work then they receive a poor grade on the assignment as their consequence…
I’ve been waiting for the teacher exercise book! Article is great advice as usual too. Thanks
What about students who sleep, put their heads down? Am I supposed to ignore that? I find that to be not acceptable and my administration will be all over me.
Little kids (elementary) do not care that much about their grades. There are no consequences; holding failing students back in elementary is nearly impossible. Plus, with standards-based grading, they can do one assignment well and skip the rest and still get a good grade. There are no repercussions for not working, and letting them be just reinforces that. Also, with younger kids, the parents will just blame the teacher and make our lives hell. I feel like this advice might work for high school kids who will be impacted negatively by bad grades and who are held more accountable, but not for second-graders.
In standards-based grading, if a student proves that they’ve mastered the standard, shouldn’t they move on? Once they’ve learned that material, it doesn’t seem surprising they wouldn’t want to continue completing similar assignments when they’re ready for something more complex.
I have the same question. Have no problems with my seventh graders doing there work, as they care about their grades. I am having a harder time with my second graders. One student is extremely spacy and often doesn’t even realize that I have assigned work. Another child is very challenged academically, and gives up quickly. Having them do their work at recess has motivated them to pay attention and do it, but is stressful for me. Maybe I’ve been taking too much responsibility for their learning?
I agree. I find this article not fully there and not realistic to what we are dealing with especially in pandemic teaching 😑
Yes! This is what I believe in! How do I get others on board?
I work with special needs students and I do have one very stubborn kid that will refuse to work. The best way we have found is to give the choice they can make. Either do the work or do nothing. Nothing means to just sit and be bored and be ignored by the teacher until they are ready to get back to work. For example, this student would go under a table and then pull out a book to look at or toys to fidget with. Those were taken away. That is not allowed. They can sit there but with nothing to do, and no one paying attention to them, it doesn’t take much time to figure out that working is better than being bored with nothing to do. This method works great!
I have special needs students and I teach art to all ages and many kids say that art is boring or stupid. We’ve made slime, paper mache, clay, finger painting, feet painting! for heavens sake. You’re right the alternative is to sit and be bored. No nothing. But my kids still get to interact with each other. First I’m going to call their parents and tell them their kids don’t do Jack and then I’ll tell the parents know the strategy of not letting them talk. Then I’ll tell the errant kids no talking if they don’t work they have to sit over on the other side of my small room. Then we’ll see if they do something after they finish being pissed off for a week or two. Ps we are allowed to let the kids sleep because our kids have behavioral problems and most are medicated.
That’s what I do, and it is pretty effective for me, too. Most students would rather do something than being bored. Bored is terrible for them.
I don’t think this is a one size fits all kind of situation or job for that matter. While being an engaging teacher helps and something we should strive to be, it’s not the answer to everything. A little more investigation into the source of the problem seems necessary.
I think what Michael is saying is that we need to understand and respect the division of responsibility; I am responsible for teaching effectively and for checking for student understanding, and my students are responsible for doing their practice work and assignments. I should absolutely give them everything they need to succeed, but then I have to let go and let them either succeed or fail. If I blur the lines of responsibility and try to make the students do their work, then I take away from their autonomy, which is the necessary ingredient for their success. It’s not about giving anyone a free pass – it’s about allowing students to experience the consequences of their own choices.
Well said, Andrea.
Our students are pushing boundaries and figuring out what it means to be adults. If we bribe them to do their work, we are taking away the opportunity for them to be autonomous. That doesn’t mean we don’t have consequences (they fail, they don’t have fun learning, they get a phone call home, etc) but they choose that and we have to give them that free will. If we are meeting our responsibility of teaching with engagement, enthusiasm, and high expectations, then we are holding up our end of the bargain.
We have a girl who might fit this. Only she does all her work but refuses to comply at carpet time. She will either be under a table or laying down while every single other student is sitting up. It’s every day, every time without fail. She does not budge in her defiance.
Just an idea – could you send her out on a walk. Maybe take a ‘letter’ to the principal, while you are making the transition. Then when she comes back, everyone else would be seated and an engaging lesson started. It might help the others ignore her.
Michael is definitely not saying to give these students a pass! That goes against everything SCM teaches.
I should clarify my earlier remarks. I don’t know the first thing about teaching Kinder or primary, or even middle school. I was only addressing my situation with high schoolers.
The rare student who doesn’t do any work doesn’t get a free pass from me either. Sleeping is absolutely not allowed! They get one warning and then they go to the office. The VP will figure out if it’s a medication issue, a counseling issue, or a discipline issue. The student also can’t be doing other stuff. I have a very strict cellphone policy and if they aren’t participating they are literally doing nothing.
When they’ve gotten a few 0’s in the books, if the adults at home haven’t already seen it and called me, I call them. Nine times out of ten this cures the problem. They get a grade every day for something, so it doesn’t take long.
So I guess what I mean by “ignoring the behavior” is that I no longer take time and attention away from the students who are participating to try to cajole one or two students to do something they don’t want to do. They will suffer consequences and I teach classes they must pass to graduate. No one likes summer school!
Obviously, there are exceptions. I had a student at the beginning of this year whose mother had just passed away and he was now living in a new state with a father he barely knew. I had another student who suffered with diagnosed clinical, chronic depression. I’m not inflexible; I worked with these students and their adults. But that’s not the same thing as the student who just decides to take the day or week or quarter off.
I absolutely agree with those who say if it’s a large number of students the teacher may need to adjust some things. If it’s one or two outliers, find out if something’s going on that needs special attention or whether it’s a kid being a kid. In that case, let them suffer the consequences and don’t lose sleep over it.
I’m not an expert and this is just my experience. I have the luxury of a super supportive admin. Your results may vary.
FYI: Michael has taught for many years. He has taught at every grade level and has taught specials (art and PE). He has multiple endorsements. He is a current classroom teacher, 5th grade, if I’m not mistaken. Perfectly OK to disagree with his articles (I had quite a lot to say last week about classroom decor!), but let’s not attack anyone personally, insinuating that if he says something that is not your cup of tea, he must have been out of the classroom for decades.
Hi Michael,
What if it’s an unruly 2nd grader in a PBIS school? It’s on me to develop a “system” that will motivate and reward him. There have never been any affective consequences in the past. I’ve managed to get him excited about math. But anything else and he just disrupts and defies every lesson.
Add punching, hitting or bopping against other kids during class…
I’m always intrigued by your solutions to typical classroom dilemmas, however I find this one to be an oversimplification, especially when there are a myriad of reasons why students refuse to do work. I wouldn’t ignore the student but rather ask if help was needed. Sometimes it’s an attempt to see if the teacher even notices. I don’t make a big deal, but I am going to take an interest in each student. A quick check-in is sometimes the catalyst for a student to realize the teacher does care. I’m not going to plead or patronize. I’m going to do my part by monitoring student progress.
When students don’t work in my second grade class, I tell them it’s fine, no problem, we’ll do it at recess. And they sit there at recess until it’s completed. I do have two recesses because it’s a priority to me and my school gives me that flexibility. Everyone plays in the first recess and the second is work time for those who didn’t do their work with everyone else. It is very effective for me.
I have a son who isn’t doing work because he is disengaged and being bullied. Don’t assume the reason is control. Take the time to understand what’s going on. Until we dug deep with our son everyone assumed he was just being lazy. Including his teachers. Came to find out most of the class has been bullying him.
That student is my high schooler and this advice is perfect. She tests in the 97th percentile but is crazy resistant to rote assignments but does step up to group work. She’s not a slacker, she just has a very creative mind and a strong desire to manage her own efforts. As parents, we have been at our wits end, but no matter what we take away, she will not do the assignments until she’s ready. When she does, she gets A’s with little effort. It’s not the teacher’s fault and I don’t think he’s saying that in a blaming way. He’s saying that the child is in charge of him/herself and teachers who push or threaten or coddle, aren’t helping. It’s maddening, no doubt. I have an M.ED and I can’t prevent my own child from damaging her future opportunities because she stands in her own way. Just be respectful to these kids, be genuinely interested in them as a person, offer extended time on some assignments and make an effort to engage their thought process. Then leave them be. The best classroom management is sometimes as simple as a gentle affirmation that they are going to do great things one day—(even if you have your doubts!). Great article!
I know from all the reading that the author, Michael Linsin, was a junior high teacher. When you teach elementary, and you teach all the subjects, and you have the same kids all day, and they are not old enough to make those decisions of not working, all you can do is your best. You can let parents and admin know, you can hold them to the same accountability or consequences as all other students. (No recess, no fun Friday) When you have “standards based grading” and no list of missing assignments that gives them an F, why should they care? Why should the parents even care? It’s mostly the parents that instill the work ethic and accountability for grades in elementary. You can only do what you can do. In other words, don’t try to come up with a million ways to get them to work. Just teach the best you can and that’s all you can do. In the adult world, there are always the slackers. These kiddos are just getting started early. Don’t blame yourself for what one or two students do. It’s our need as teachers to control everything that is the most frustrating. These kiddos don’t want to be controlled. I’m sure they do it at home too. If you stop trying to control the student and show that it’s not bothering you, the control will be put back on the student and that’s what they want. Control. Michael wasn’t saying it’s your fault. Only that you make sure your lessons are interesting so that it can’t be blamed on that.
High school has it the easiest. No work, no credit. They have natural consequences. I’ve learned some tricks to use, like “after you finish your work you can… Insert fun activity here.” Those slackers start moving or they don’t 🙂
As parent, I find this article concerning. First, there is the assumption that a student is willfully making life hard for the teacher because they want “control”. Second, the student should toughen up to do the work.
I’d like to offer a different perspective. That student most likely has a learning difference. After going through the grades with teachers interventions repeated every grade, they begin to think they are dumb, incapable, and self esteem plumits. Eventually, they begin to refuse to the work becuase they are discouraged.
How do I do I know? I have 2 children with learning differnce thst were those kids. Since the diagnosises and proper supports, they are different kids. What did it take having parents that did accept what teachers were saying about there kids.
What I’d like to ask of teachers is to change there views of these kids. Start asking if this child may have an undiagnosed learning disorder. Work refusal is a HUGE sign, even if they appear to be able to do the work.
So inspiring – thank you!
I found this really interesting as a college professor. While I always feel bad when I have a student who doesn’t do the work, it would never have occurred to me to do such heavy interventions! My default has always been to assume that they have something all consuming and urgent going on outside of class and I understand that sometimes that has to take priority. I encourage them to withdraw so the F is not factored into their gpa and I tell them that my class is offered every semester and they are welcome to register again in the future. Withdrawal probably isn’t an option in secondary school, so I guess educators just allow their students to take the F? Is this what the author is suggesting? I’ve heard that sometimes a principal or superintendent won’t allow a teacher to fail a student. That really places teachers in a bind and must be very frustrating!
Thank you to all the teachers who have worked tirelessly through this pandemic!!!
Group work is always challenging because inevitably there will be one individual who willingly or unwillingly takes on the bulk of the assignment.
To minimize this, I put in place the following for group work:
1) Each group decides upon a job title for each group member and they are then mainly responsible for overseeing that component of the project.
2) Each member of the group is responsible for submitting their own confidential reflection addressing several bullet points and explaining in detail what they did for the project. They also explain what each of the other group members contributed.
3) Each group together completes and submits a detailed self-graded rubric on their overall product.
4) Each group member submits a detailed confidential self-graded rubric on their own contributions and efforts.
5) Each group member in confidence submits a letter grade to each member of their group.
In the end, I return an overall project grade for which each group member receives the same grade and then an individual grade based upon what I have observed and the information provided through the reflections and rubrics.
As a student who was like this through high school, eeking by with a 1.2 due to teachers “punishing me” constantly, this article really feels like someone it there gets it.
For the teachers reading this…
After high school, I graduated valor dictorian from my master’s program and currently am an extremely successful, by all measures, engineer. Don’t mistake a student not working for a student that isn’t interested or learning.
Thank you for your post!
This was my entire school experience. I was an 80s kid – 90s teen. I have severe adhd that was not diagnosed until my 40s. I could engage with learning just fine and often pass tests with really high scores. But homework was a nightmare. Worksheets so boring they would make me cry, essays I didn’t have a clear understanding on how to complete, unclear expectations on how to complete assignments that everyone else just seemed to intuitively know how to do. I was extremely overwhelmed and would shut down easily. There was some control and freedom issues but that was not all I was dealing with. I stayed home as often as I could to avoid school altogether and then would recieved detentions for missing too many days. I’m not sure how to solve this problem universally but I think the solution is more complex than this and depends on the individual student needs.
This.
Glad someone mentioned it.
Undiagnosed ADHD can be a strong culprit on this matter. It would be a shameful oversight to simply reduce this as merely a behavioral issue.
As teachers beholds the bulk of a child’s behavioral patterns, it would be essential to bring these concerns up with parents. And especially not as behavioural issues that require modification, but as signs that something deeper may be present that may require medical investigation.
Coming from a former “slacker”, I completely disagree. As an adult, I see now, the reason I did no work was because I was in survival mode and I was just too mentally exhausted. A child cannot identify, let alone defend themselves from mental abuse when that is all they have ever known.
It was NEVER about control. It was always Maslow’s hierarchy, and school was at the bottom of the priority list.
Admin would love your teachings! If your student misbehaves then it’s your fault right! You just need to be more likable and have great classroom management. This all just reinforces to kids- only respect authority who have *earned* it. So when my sub or a guest comes in that don’t stand a fighting chance. Let’s see how that really helps them.
WOW. I have been a subscriber for years and I have been increasingly distressed by the vitriol of some comments.
The goal of this article and all the articles is to help you examine your daily practice. It is not to blame anyone–students, admin, teachers, parents. Michael is big on personal responsibility, but that is not the same as blame. Maybe personal responsibility is like jazz–you know it when you hear it.
When I read these articles, especially the ones that hit me in the gut, I try to step back from my reaction and examine my role in the problem being discussed. What is my practice in this situation? What do I need to do differently–do I need to add something, subtract something, double-down one something, keep records about something? What are my goals in this situation? Does my practice line up with my goals? I am often surprised and frustrated by how often my practice doesn’t line up with my goals. It’s very humbling.
We’re all tired and frustrated. We all feel the pressure to resolve all the problems of society within our classroom. We all have experiences and opinions that do not match up with the point of view expressed in Michael’s articles. That doesn’t mean that his point of view is wrong, flawed, biased, self-serving or out of touch. It means that it doesn’t match our experience. What value can we extract from it that can improve our practice? A contrasting point of view does not invalidate our experience, but gives us an opportunity to see things differently.
In my current classes (Elementary Ed Tech specialty, k-6), I suspect that I have 3 students for whom this will work, and one who probably needs a different approach. I will be working with these children differently because they are different children. I have in the past dealt with comments “why do they get…” with the response “I promise I won’t talk to them about you. I’ve promised them the same thing.” I will try my best always to serve my 1200 students well. I will fail often, but not for lack of thoughtful practices if I can help it.
Thanks for reading.
Working in the special education population, these strategies don’t always work, but I try each and every one. I appreciate your candor, however, that being said, I will continue to work my lessons with humor, grace, and a whole lot of movement. (I teach middle school) I will not lose sleep at night worrying about my student who refuses to do any sort of work. I am a mild to moderate teacher, and this kid is definitely moderate to severe as he is emotionally disturbed. My district refuses to place him in an appropriate setting and I will not be made to feel that I am not doing all I can, because I know I am.
Thanks for all your thought provoking articles. They are very helpful to me!
I think a lot of teachers reading this missed a crucial point in the author’s article. He said to do nothing for a student you know is highly capable and HAS the ability. Obviously you treat this student differently than one who is struggling to understand (a reason they have an IEP) or you suspect an undiagnosed learning problem. My student who is not working because they cannot see the board or who is shutting down because they never learned prior information or are preoccupied with unsafe conditions at home interfering with concentration are different than a capable student. It takes some astute observation to know a capable student who simply refuses to do work from other similar students who cannot actually complete the work without support.