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Dear [member_name_first],
Spring is on the horizon (don't forget to turn you
clocks forward one hour Sunday, March 9th)! March
is also National Women's History Month and you can
find historical information, biographies of notable
women, news and events on the National
Women's History Project website. You
will also want to be sure to check out the Federal
Resource for Educational Excellence website which
has over 30 teaching and learning resources for Women's
History Month including everything from American
Women: A Reference Guide, to Women of Protest: Photographs
from the Records of the Woman's National Party and
more. The History.com website is another excellent site to check out, full of interactive information and resources for Women's History Month.
The Good Doctor: Reaching Out to an Unmotivated Student
by Douglas Cruickshank
 I was a smart kid and a terrible student.
I started going to school in the late 1950s, and by the fall of 1963, when I entered fifth grade, I had already accumulated a truly dismal academic record: Ds, Fs, Incompletes, and the rare C. I could bore you with a detailed analysis of my young troubles, but they weren't particularly exceptional. Given what many children cope with, they barely qualified as “troubles.” What is worth discussing is how one teacher turned me around.
To be fair, over the years I had experienced several terrific teachers. Even those who weren't terrific did their best, but I was a challenge. Though I'm not a teacher, I have friends and a girlfriend who are, so I believe I have a better-than-average understanding of the extraordinary efforts teachers make to reach students who are clearly capable of getting more out of school than they're getting. A number of teachers made such efforts on my behalf. One succeeded.
It's not news that some children have a tough if not impossible time learning in the typical classroom environment, and that, as they accumulate failures, they cease to believe (if they ever did) in their ability to do what the kid sitting next to them seems to do with ease. If they do the assignments at all, they rarely attempt to do them well. They don't participate in class discussions. They ignore homework, and make no effort to provide the correct answers on in-class tests, which they often don't complete.
That was certainly my story. It's an extremely frustrating situation even for the most experienced, patient teacher. For less experienced teachers, it may be overwhelming. And it's devastating for the student.
To read the rest of this article, click here to download the full text in Microsoft Word format.
This article was originally published 8/8/2007 © Edutopia.org; The George Lucas Educational Foundation.
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