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There are lessons to be learned about dependent underachievers in the most unlikely places
Filed Under "At-risk" students, Behaviour Management, Special Education, underachieving students
If you’re anything like me, you’ve probably noticed from time to time that there are lessons to be learned about all sorts of things in the most unlikely places. Today, while I was dividing and repotting my orchids because they’d finished blooming and had really outgrown their pots, (see photo) I realized that they had a lesson to teach me about my dependent underachievers.
You see, if you give orchids too much care and fuss over them a lot, they don’t thrive despite your best intentions. In fact, the more you fuss over them the worse their performance will be. Orchids given too much tender loving care in the form of too frequent watering, too much direct sunlight, too much warmth, too much of anything really will stop growing and just sit there and do nothing. My dependent underachieving students are a bit like my orchids- too much TLC from people around them and they stop flourishing and just sit.
The best thing I can do for my orchids and my dependent underachieving students is to step back a bit and give them enough space and just enough support to enable them to blossom on their own.
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3 Responses to “There are lessons to be learned about dependent underachievers in the most unlikely places”
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Good analogy and a good gardening tip.
That is so interesting. I only recently came to the same conclusion regarding my students. I was trying to shelter them and build up their confidence. Then I realized that somewhere along they stopped trying. Now, I am changing my teaching methods. I don’t fully know what I’m going to do yet, but I am definitely going to expect more of them.
-leila-
Mathew,
Thanks.
Leila,
I started to suggest some strategies you might use to help with underachieving students her in the comment box, but then I realized it might be better if I just answer you question about what to do in my next post. Look for it tomorrow.