It’s a wild Friday night here at my house. It’s a big
cardboard box, a glue gun, some packing tape and me. It’s not the next version
of 50 shades of cardboard; it’s just me…trying to build a refrigerator out of a
big cardboard box.
I have a vision – it seems simple enough. Cut a door, glue
some shelves inside, spray paint the box and behold – a refrigerator for the
girl. I’m imagining the look of glee and admiration she will give me when she
goes downstairs to play and finds the refrigerator ready for all her play
items. She’ll spend hours carefully placing her cans and boxes inside. She will
make ‘meals’ for mommy and daddy. She will be immersed in spending time with
the refrigerator. She will stop removing everything from my pantry.
The vision does not materialize.
Two hours later I’m standing at the back door chucking
cardboard out into the dark night. Begging the roaming squirrels and raccoons
to carry away the remnants of my hideous disaster. My hot-glue-gun burned and
bandaged hands pleading for mercy.
I had a vision. I really wanted it. I tried. I asked for
help. I tried again. But, eventually, I had to abandon.
How often does this happen with students and books? They
have a vision of loving a book. They try it out. They ask a friend who has
already read it what is supposed to be going on. They go back to it. But, the
vision never materializes. They hate it. And eventually they abandon.
When students abandon books repeatedly, do we find out the
source of the problem? Or do we just get frustrated that they are a constant
abandoner? Do we eventually tell them they HAVE to finish a book? Forcing me to
finish the refrigerator would certainly have done no one any good. I had a saw
in my hands when I finally decided to abandon, who knows how much more damage I
could have done!
When we have students who are chronic abandoners maybe we
need to help them get into something they enjoy, even if it is a ‘lower’ level
before pushing them on. Just like I probably needed to do some work with other
smaller cardboard projects before jumping into a full refrigerator. Once we
help get that momentum going and build a solid skill set base, then continuing
on to harder projects will be easier.
Next week’s project is a washer and dryer.
No comments:
Post a Comment