Quality
1. A student who does a shoddy job with classwork and homework.
A) What, according to you, are the most important things to be kept in mind when dealing with such a case?
Ans. In my experience, this has been a widespread occurrence in every classroom. The first thing a teacher should keep in mind is that not all students function in the same way. Some grasp faster than others, while others do not pay much attention to their studies. Thus, every student requires personalized attention. This should be done with ample patience and tact.
Another fact that a teacher must not overlook is the environment provided to the student. A healthy environment will reflect on the students’ performance. This includes the classroom as well as the domestic environment. Parents of most of our students work jobs with long working hours and/or are uneducated. To add to it, intrafamily dynamics may also affect the overall mental health of the students. Hence, the teacher should be mindful of these factors.
B) Give an account of how you would approach the situation?
Ans. Taking the above-mentioned factors into account, I would take the following steps to deal with such a situation:
1. Firstly, I would lessen the amount of daily classwork and focus more on explaining to them the concepts of the study material.
2. I would identify their friends in class and have the students in question sit with them to share and solve each other's problems together.
3. Offering positive remarks, such as ‘Good work’, ‘Well done, ‘Excellent’, ‘Good Going’, ‘Keep it up’ etc., for any progress made can boost their morale.
4. Additionally, exhibiting their work on display boards would motivate them to work harder to seek their peers' admiration.
5. Keeping a check on the classroom environment is a must. I would look out for problematic behaviours among students, such as bullying, and school them about its effects.
6. Every month, an interactive session with their (students in question) parents shall be scheduled to update them on their ward(s) performance and assess the parents' attitude towards academics.
7. I would also ensure that the students know that they can contact their teachers after school hours. We as teachers can organise after-school handwriting improvement classes,doubt-clearance sessions or any other activity as per the students' needs.
8. If the students are struggling financially, I would provide them with school supplies such as notebooks, pencils, pens, etc.
9. It has been observed that students perform better when their parents take an active interest in academics. Hence, this is what I would aim to achieve with the parents.
10. Lastly, to let the students live a healthy childhood and enjoy other interests, I would assign them the least amount of homework. This would be crucial in preventing them from losing interest in their studies.
Love
Ans. Romance is a kind of relationship between two people who are in love with each other. While the students at our school are pretty young, they are not aware of the concept of love.
Yet, in the many years, I have taught, I have not come across any two underage students in a romantic relationship. They experience love in all other ways. Even so, if I'm ever faced with such a situation, I would explain to them the meaning of romantic love. I would give them instances of all forms of love around them, for example, parental love, familial bonds and sibling affection. This would be necessary to make them understand that other than the bonds we are born into, choosing the romantic relationships one wants to commit to requires good decision-making skills, which comes with experience that the young students lack. It would also be beneficial to desensitize conservative Indian parents regarding this. Counselling them regarding their children's puberty in advance would give them ample time to prepare for their children's expected adolescent behaviour, including dating. This will help ensure the child's healthy growth in the most important years of their lives and build strong relationships with their own parents.
It is important to note that being in a romantic relationship is nothing to be looked down upon but rather encouraged. However, it should be so only when the individuals are mature enough to think and consent for themselves. Thus, to conclude, this is how I would handle the situation in question.
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- Manmohan Kaur@JMMS, John Martyn Memorial School, Salangaon, Dehradun