I've attended many parent and IEP meetings for students. When I was
in the classroom, I always taught (and asked for) inclusion classes. I also
wanted to attend IEP meetings so that I could meet the parents and share my
input there. As a grade level administrator, I’ve attended many parent and IEP meetings for
ninth graders over the last four years.
In a recent meeting, a special education teacher who
was conducting the meeting told the parent about the student, her child,
“He wants to do his work; he wants to make
us happy.”
In other words, the work was about behavior. It was about
compliance.
It got me thinking.
About the work that kids do, and the work that we do.
Work is important. It teaches discipline. It brings
satisfaction and pride. I learned from a great coach early in my career that
self-esteem doesn’t come from telling someone positive things. It comes from
completing tasks successfully. Give a person tasks that he can complete with
success, and gradually give him increasingly challenging tasks. Praise and recognition
of completing the tasks will a positively to a person’s self-esteem.
When the teacher is the only audience for student work, it’s easier for the
work to be about compliance. It’s personal. It can become more about “Do this
because I said so,” than “Do this because ________ (it will help you
learn/process content, you will be able to demonstrate what you know, it will
help to make your thinking visible…)
While we all have tasks that we are required to do and may
not enjoy or see a bigger purpose in doing them, we are more motivated to do
the tasks when we understand the reasons behind doing them. We are also
motivated to complete tasks when the audience is authentic. Think about the
posters hanging in the hallway for all to see, or the presentation done for a
live or online audience. What about the blog post that’s read by a global
audience or the athletic skill that’s done in front of a crowd.
What happens when the audience is authentic? Is love still
visible?
Thanks for the post Jennifer and a reminder to be an authentic audience. I agree that self-esteem comes from completing tasks successfully. The more work the greater the feeling of accomplishment. Reminded my of Carol Dweck's work on effective praise. Great post!
ReplyDeleteJon
Jennifer this is so true. I have recently discovered that a big contributor to my stress levels is unfinished work. I now know that when I finish work, instead of putting it off, my stress is reduced. I must imagine that it is the same for many kids. It is easy to put it off and then when they do, it becomes more and more difficult to begin. This leads to stress and denial. Your piece made me really think about this and the feeling we get when we complete work. Today I had a student, who has many difficulties making it through a school day, come into my office and show me three 100's and a 70. He was so proud. It was great to see. Hopefully he remembers that feeling and tries to replicate it.
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