He became more motivated because I listened to him.
Adam slowly came around. I stopped bothering him about his homework. I nudged him to write more and more in class. He trusted me at first because I didn’t try to embarrass him regarding the note, but he continued to trust me because when I had an issue I talked with him rather than punishing him. I started to view Adam in a new light. He wasn’t this recalcitrant kid in my class, he was an 11-year old who was heartbroken about a break up. He was a kid who was interested in more things outside school than inside school. He
was a skateboarder. A car expert. A good brother. And I became a teacher who listened more than talked.
Adam taught me that when we view our resisters as interesting rather than annoying, we see situations with a new perspective. Methods of resistance became interesting data points: Why did Adam work some days, and not others? Why did he respond to some assignments more than others – was it the assignment, or was it his mood? Did he always respond to choice, or only sometimes? What was the right amount of praise? Why did he sometimes shut down when I praised him, but not other times?
Now, because of Adam, all the resisters I meet are like case studies. I ask myself: Why do they resist? I wonder about them both as learners and as human beings. My focus is much broader than just those things they won’t do in school. I build relationships with them by finding out what they do in school and out of school.
When I think about my resisters as opportunities to learn – when I embrace the complexity of resistance instead of fighting it– then I am more likely to provide meaningful support.
Talk with your resisters. Avoid seeing them from a deficit lens. Embrace the challenge and opportunity to work with them. If you do, they will trust you, and you will be a better teacher for both the student in front of you, and for the resisters who are bound to walk through your door in the future.
Perspectives on resistant learners
Bern Nicholls PhD and Annelies Hoogland MEd
by
The question educators need to ask is not how motivated their students are, but how their students are motivated.
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By Mark Overmeyer