“I don’t feel like reading today.”
“I am gonna fail this test today.”
“Just let me finish this video game and then I will do some work.”
“What will my grade be if I don’t do the assignment?”
Jeff, one of my eighth-grade students, makes these comments at the beginning of the class almost every day. He is also absent about 20 percent of the time and never makes up any missed work. After talking to Jeff’s other teachers, it is evident that he says the same things in all of his classes.
Jeff always wants to sit in the back of the room. He wears his red hoodie, and before my minilesson is complete, his hood is up and his head is down. During class work time, Jeff either continues to have his head down in an “I have no need to learn this stuff” fashion or walks around talking to other students about anything and everything but what we are learning that day.
Jeff’s grades are typically Cs on assessments. He can show growth and can do well when he is engaged. He worries about his grades when new grades are posted, but never when it is time to learn and do the work. He claims that my class is his favorite class. If that is the case, what is going on with him? I was concerned that if this was his academic behavior now, he couldn’t possibly handle the work in high school and pass any classes.
Understanding Jeff
I decided to sit down with Jeff and have a talk with him. I wanted to get to know who he was as a student and as a person. I wanted to get to know what motivates him.
“Hey Jeff, can we talk?”
“Sure.”
“How’s it going?”
“I don’t know.”
“Are you feeling okay?”
“I guess.”
“Jeff, do you like school?”
“No. I think it’s a waste of time. I should be home.”
“What would you be doing if you were home right now?”
“I would be playing video games.”
“Are you good at playing video games?”
“Yep. The ones that I like.”
“Do you put your head down and your red hood up when you play video games?”
“[Laughs] No. I have to pay close attention to what’s going on in the game.”
“I am curious: why do you do that in my class?”
“I like your class and all. I just think school is stupid.”
“Did you ever like school?”
“Yep. When I was in second and third grade. Maybe even fourth.”
“What did you like about school back then?”
“I was good at reading and writing. I was even good at math.”
“So now you don’t like school. What happened?”
“I don’t know. When I was in fifth grade, I had a bad teacher. I was absent a lot because of being sick, and I was never able to catch up. My teacher always promised to help me understand things, but he was too busy helping other kids.”
“Have you ever liked school since then?”
“Nope. I am always behind. I feel stupid. There is no use in trying to catch up.”
What I learned from Jeff was that he is or was very capable academically. He had just given up on himself and no longer believed in himself as a student. He looks for things in life in which he can succeed, such as video games, sports, and being a friend. He has done two to three years of schooling with little success and lots of struggles. His academic self-esteem is low, and the outcome that most teachers see is defiance and lack of motivation.
Are Jeff’s behaviors a choice? Maybe. But more so, they are reactions and coping skills developed in response to what school and learning has come to mean to him. Telling Jeff to get to work, try harder, do better, or stop his defiant behaviors is not going to make him a better student. In fact, it’s possible that he will become more and more frustrated with being and feeling behind in learning, to the point that he will just give up altogether.
I decided to work with Jeff to help him see more success in school. I started with my minilessons. I created a brief outline of the minilesson for him so he could have it in front of him when it was time to read to learn more about the content we were investing in. Next, I gave him a shorter article about the same topic that we were discussing in class so he could do the reading and have the stamina to learn enough to know what we were talking about. I checked in with him and asked him clarifying questions to evaluate whether he was understanding the reading and keeping up with the work.
It all seemed to be working. Then it was time for an assessment. Jeff had been working well to stay engaged and seemed to be happier knowing that he was able to learn along with the class and not feel lost. I knew that if I gave Jeff the same assessment as the rest of the class, he would shut down and feel overwhelmed. I created a second version of the assessment that mirrored the work he had been doing throughout the unit. When it was time to take the assessment, I put a copy of the revised assessment and a copy of the assessment that the rest of the class was taking in front of him.
Jeff looked over both of the assessments. He ended up taking the custom-made assessment and doing very well on it. The next class, when Jeff realized that he had done well on the assessment, he sat up. He was more engaged, and his hood was down. We continued this work together while gradually increasing the reading levels and the level of work that I expected him to accomplish.
A few months later, Jeff was choosing the same assessments that the rest of the class was taking and doing well on them. His Lexile score went from a 540 to a 960 as he was reading more, reading higher-level text than he was used to, and truly trying in class. His confidence grew as we got a true view into his academic capacities.
The experience with Jeff has taught me various ways to help students suffering from lower academic self-esteem. I have at least five or six versions of Jeff each school year. I have also found that many EL students need the same or similar attention and partnering. Now when I see Jeff-like behaviors or hear Jeff-like responses, I know it is time to create a plan of action to help the student realize some successes as soon as possible.
