Help Students Develop Stick-to-it-tiveness

Work-inhibited students need help in learning persistence—to stay on task, to withstand failure, and to forge ahead. They need to learn the skills of stick-to-it-tiveness more than academic skills.

Teachers may choose among a variety of strategies to assist the work-inhibited student to move slowly, incre­mentally, toward competence. Sometimes an entire class may have the same assignment—which a work-inhibited student may well be able to complete if it is broken down into small incremental steps. As the student completes each part, the teacher gives a pat on the back, a bit of encouragement—an emotional "pick-me-up"—to pro­ceed on to the next step. The teacher tries to extend the student just a little bit.

This method is much like training to run faster. Run­ners set intervals during which they run hard and fast for a brief period, and then recover. Then they repeat the pattern. The goal is to run faster for short distances and then gradually extend the distance.

Varying the approach helps. Students like novelty. Sur­prise the child by insisting that only three questions be completed. Set up a challenge to work quickly. Use a timer and ask the student to beat the clock. Highlight or underline certain items and ask the student to finish only those that are so marked.

Maintain a careful record of assignments completed and graph the results. Student and teacher alike may be surprised and positively reinforced by viewing a graph that shows progress.

Do not let the work pile up. At the end of each peri­od, go on to the next activity. If possible, collect any work, both complete and incomplete, and go on. Work-inhibited students easily feel overwhelmed and are unlikely to tackle a tableful of incomplete assignments. They do need to learn to tackle longer and longer assign­ments, but it is foolish to encourage work-inhibited stu­dents to climb a mountain when they are still unable to scale a hill.

Working incrementally means always taking it one day at a time. It means the teacher is pleased to see a work-inhibited student increase effort 100 percent when going from two minutes to four minutes, while most of the other students are able to work independently for half an hour. Bit by bit, focusing on successes, breaking assignments into smaller units, giving assignments that may be completed—this is the direction in which suc­cess lies. Offer Helping Hands

Through positive regard and problem-solving confer­ences, a work-inhibited student's readiness for accepting help may improve. But a teacher with twenty-five stu­dents in a classroom can spend only a fraction of the day being next to and assisting any one individual. Therefore, it may be useful to recruit helpers to assist work-inhibit­ed students. The classmates of work-inhibited students may be a rich resource. Pair classmates and encourage them to assist each other. Older work-inhibited students often welcome the opportunity to tutor younger chil­dren with similar weaknesses. It not only adds variety to their day but tutoring also helps them feel important. In high school, members of the National Honor Society, Key Club, or other service organizations may be ready and willing to give tutorial assistance. Each school is filled with helping hands.

Providing positive, effective feedback to students is a powerful tool but not necessarily easy to use. For praise to be effective, certain rules should be remembered.

Reward the action or product, not the person, with pos­itive attention. Comment specifically about what it is the student has accomplished. Comments should not be exaggerated or insincere, but rather true and to the point. "Nineteen out of twenty correct! You really understand!" "Your use of shading in this painting gives the scene per­spective and a sense of distance." "Your paragraph includ­ed three funny examples of what can happen on the first day of school." "Joe, your speech kept everyone's atten­tion."

Sometimes positive reinforcement does not require words. Just a smile or a pat on the back may keep a stu­dent working. What is important is to notice what the student is doing or has accomplished.

Teachers are not the only ones who may give positive reinforcement. Everyone in the class might do it! Encour­age classmates to support each other by modeling posi­tive communication. The goal is to create a climate of encouragement.

Empower the Child

Work-inhibited students need all the help they can get in order to bolster their weak egos. These students ben­efit from opportunities to develop their individual strengths—to feel empowered. Encourage work-inhibit­ed students to participate in extracurricular activities and provide them with opportunities for leadership (safety patrols, office helper).

Another important facet of feeling empowered relates to decision making. In high school, students have oppor­tunities to make important decisions as to what courses they will take and what career paths they may embark on. At all levels, it is important to empower students to make decisions regarding daily activities, including how to accomplish tasks and what is to be studied. Being asked "What do you think?" or "What do you want to do first?" imparts a sense of importance to students and fuels feelings of control and independence. The goal is to pro­mote autonomy so that students may stand on their own and feel a sense of adequacy. Practices To Avoid

Our schools should not be reluctant to change those practices that are not in the best interests of students. If students are able to demonstrate their acquisition of knowledge and skills without certain homework assign­ments—give up those assignments. Requiring a child to repeat a grade for failure to complete assignments, pun­ishing children by keeping them in for recess or by deny­ing them access to extracurricular activities are not like­ly to promote the growth of their interests or their sense of well-being in their school.

In communicating to parents, provide clear descrip­tions of the student's strengths and weaknesses. Parents need to know that their children have allies in the school. Don't blame. Rather, be objective about the instruction­al setting and the requirements for success. Parents need to know that school work is not their responsibility. Par­ents can set the stage by providing a place and estab­lishing a schedule for homework; but they should tell their children that the contract for doing school work is between students and teachers; and then nurture, love, and encourage.