From Joyce...
Happy New Year!
I write this
first newsletter for 2006 as I wing my way back to Atlanta from
Austin, Texas
where the
temperatures have been in the balmy 70s and 80s and I have enjoyed
beginning my new year with a wee break from the winter cold and
wetness of Atlanta, GA.
As has often
been the case during 2005, the topic I was asked to discuss with an
Austin HS faculty, who, by the way were not totally thrilled to be
having a staff development day on January 2nd, was
“Motivating the Unmotivated student.” I began my presentation by
saying that “today we can all identify with the unmotivated student
who doesn’t want to be in school, and isn’t interested in anything you
can teach them.”
In quite good
humor my audience readily agreed that most were not quite ready to
return to work, especially since many neighboring school districts did
not return until the 4th or 5th. By simply
taking a moment to identify their own feelings, these educators took
the first step in the process of motivating others. The step is
called empathy; to identify and have compassion for another person’s
feeling. It is impossible to motivate someone to do something they
really do not want to do if you have no understanding or concern for
their emotions or thinking.
Motivating is an
emotional process. To motivate someone we have to hook into their
emotions. If we don’t understand their feelings then we need to ask
them to explain. One educator shared with me that he had done just
this after attending my workshops. He told his most unmotivated
student that he would just listen if the boy would explain to him why
he seemed to hate his class. The boy talked for 45 minutes. He did
not mention the class, but told the teacher a rather sad tale of what
was going on in his life at the moment. As promised, the teacher just
listened and then thanked the boy for sharing with him. Neither had
said a word about the class, however, the boy returned to class the
next day and handed in all his work for the remaining semester and
ended up passing the class.
That is the
power of empathy. Many of the students who we say “simply do not
care” are, in fact, young people who do not have someone in their
lives that genuinely care about them.
The problem is
that many educators, who are rightfully concerned about student
performance, take it personally when students do not produce or even
show a remote interest in education. This can be frustrating waste of
personal energy for the educator. It is much more energy efficient to
ask the student what they need from you to be able to pass the class.
I suggest that you tell them that you respect their right to not like
the subject or the whole business of school, but you sure would
appreciate it if they keep you out of hot water with President Bush by
at least producing enough work to pass the class.
As silly has
this may sound, you would be surprised how many kids will work for you
when they wouldn’t do it for themselves once you have made a positive
connection with them through empathy or humor or both.
Here are a few
more tips for making positive connections with unmotivated kids:
1) Smile
when they walk in the room, even if they look angry or disgusted.
2) Give
them permission to not like the class or the subject. Tell them it’s
OK not to like the class even if the President of the U.S. thinks they
should have to learn it.
3) Joke
with them.
4) Reassure
them that what you are teaching is something they will get if they are
patient with themselves. Tell them that some people will get is fast
and others slow but everyone can get it if they are willing to try
just a little bit.
5) Talk
to them about how good it feels to know things that everyone does not
know. Feeling smart feels good.
6) Ask
them how you could make the class more interesting for them.
7) Discuss
their personal interests (besides the whole boy/girl thing) and
integrate that into your lesson plan. For example, if your group is
into rap then take some of the material that needs to be memorized and
let them create a rap
8) Focus
on their best qualities because they do have good qualities even if
accomplishing great things in school is not one of them.
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November 18, 2005