What to do when they have senioritis

Hello everyone,

I was talking to someone the other day about what to do with students that have given up.

It's the end of the semester--for seniors it's the end of high school. You all remember what it's like. The sports metaphors work best, maybe--the runner's hit the wall. The second wind hasn't come yet. The endorphins haven't kicked in. It's painful, and the end seems too far away and too difficult to attain.

What would a coach do to a runner in that situation?

Most of the coaches I know relentlessly shout encouragement at their runners. They try to refocus the runner's thoughts away from the pain of it all toward something else. I think the shouting helps in that refocus. "C'mon! You can do it! Don't give up! Watch your form!"

Many--maybe all--add psychology, pleading, cajoling, threats--anything that accomplishes the dual purpose of taking the runner's mind away from the pain and toward the goal.

Teachers can't do all of those things, but I wonder if the dual purpose (taking the mind away from pain and pointing the mind toward the goal) isn't the same.

Taking the mind off the pain can be done in a variety of ways: fun classroom activities, more frequent shifts in teaching strategies, breaking large goals (ie, semester end research paper or portfolio) into smaller chunks (portions of the research paper due at different times).

Moving the mind toward the goal is pretty straightforward, I think, except that the goal may not always be clear, or close enough to seem attainable. Make sure that the goal you're helping your students achieve is a clear, reachable one, and one that would actually be desirable for the individual student: graduation, advancement, proper entry into the workforce, avoidance of mother's wrath. Sometimes the goals need to be broken down into more achievable goals: make it through this week; just finish this assignment; write one more essay; put one foot in front of the other.

Despite the best coaching and teaching, some students will choose to quit. Some don't care about failing; some don't care about graduating; some can't be motivated to do anything. That's the reality.

It's also a reality that many of those kids--with a little more encouragement--WILL come around and do what they need to do. Don't despair that, despite your encouragement, some still fail. Just do your best to make it hard for them to give up.

At the same time, don't lower your standards. Make them come up to the level they need to be; don't drop to the level they would rather. I often pleaded with students to come in and just do a little more work. I called their homes and begged their parents to get them to do more. I went to their girlfriends and boyfriends and asked them to help. I tutored at lunch. I wrote emails. (Full disclosure: I didn't spend all my time doing all of these things for every single student. After writing the paragraph, I see that I might make myself look better than I was. I tried those tactics for students I believed were likely to pay me back for my time and effort by trying. Most of them responded.)

If in the final analysis, the student fails, make sure that you know that it was the student's choice, not yours.

This is a tough thing to write about because there's so much guilt and emotion tied up into it. There are intangibles, and things that we can't control. The best we can do is control what's in our power and allow our students to learn from their decisions.

By the way, I learned that a powerful motivator is hourly wage. Our students have little concept of annual income and benefits, but they understand hourly wage. I was talking to a student once who wanted to drop out of school for what looked to him like a great job. "How much does it pay?" I asked. "$10 an hour," he said proudly. "That's not bad for a high school dropout," I said. "How much do you think I make?" "$8 an hour," he said. He had heard so many teachers gripe about their pay he assumed it was really that bad. I told him my true hourly wage, and he was astounded. When he realized how few hours I had to work to earn the same amount he got in a day, he reconsidered dropping out.

Whatever works, coach.

Jeff Combe