How NOT to Deal with a Struggling Student

How NOT to Deal with a Struggling Student My dad once had a math teacher in elementary school who used to say “There’s no such thing as a dumb student, only dumb teachers.” Many times, struggling students cave in under the pressures of excelling classmates, pushy teachers, and distraught parents, concluding that if they can’t get better grades, they must be less intelligent than their peers. In reality, the fault lies primarily in those of us teaching these struggle students, since we tend to assume to a certain degree that the child is in fact not as bright as others and we continually repeat the same methods of teaching in order to get the concept across. First of all, some teachers have the tendency to assume that a student is not very smart if they cannot understand a given concept. I think in most cases it comes as a visceral reaction to the situation and is therefore hard to control. Over time, however, we tell ourselves and those students who look down on their slower classmate that so-and-so is not dumb, jus t different. Although it is often true that some children have learning disabilities and are therefore different, labeling them as such can potentially harm their self-confidence, especially if they are not actually diagnosed as being “different.” My younger brother, who is now a freshman at LMU, went through this very experience in elementary school, due to the inability of his teachers to understand him see the situation from his perspective.By categorizing struggling students as either normal or different based on whether they can understand the material could thus be very harmful. There are also some teachers who have the tendency to repeat the same methods and attempt to apply the same means of instruction to all their students. This is a mistake, however, since there are some students who are better able to grasp the concepts with visual or audio aids. Of course, it would be scientifically inaccurate to say that these students are exclusively “visual” or “tactile” learners, but in the case of struggling students, it may be beneficial to try other approaches when introducing them to a difficult concept. In this way, the material can be absorbed through multiple avenues and hopefully be integrated into a well-rounded understanding of the whole.In conclusion, the challenge posed to teachers and tutors by struggling students has been addressed incorrectly in the past, with these students being labeled as different and therefore becoming even more timid and withdrawn. It would instead be better to treat them as being just as intelligent as their peers whi le at the same time attempting to teach the concept from a different perspective or approach in order to bring out the best in each student.