Or organized sports.
Or physical activity in general.
I'm not terribly good at drawing, or singing, or dancing.
I can create quite a long list of things I'm not good at, and I'm sure you can, too.
So can our students.
If you think about it, it's the perfect "out." It's defense of self. "You can't be mad at me if I'm not good at this thing," the reasoning goes, "because I already told you I'm no good at it."
Even (or especially) among my gifted students, I hear it all the time.
"I'm not good at reading."
"I'm not good at writing."
"I'm not good at spelling."
"I'm not good at technology."
It would drive me nuts. How can you acknowledge their fear (they really weren't all that great at those things), while still providing support to make it better -- when they're fighting against you the whole way?
This week, I added a powerful weapon to my toolbox, courtesy of Class Dojo:
"It's not that you're not good at it. You're just not good at it...yet."Who would have thought those three letters would have made such a huge difference? And yet, isn't that exactly what we needed? An acknowledgement of the truth -- "Nope, you're not good at it." But encouragement at the same time: "Yet."
I was so excited by this ridiculously easy, yet revolutionary breakthrough, that I shared it with the Hubby (a 10th-grade English teacher). He found out quickly that it works just as well on the big kids.
"Sir, I'm not good at reading," one of his students informed him, a few minutes into a new short story.
"That's ok," Hubby replied. "You're just not good at reading...yet. But stick with me -- we're going to keep working on it, and you'll get better."
Kid grumbled...but went back to his seat, and read.
So...I may not be very good at math, or singing, or sports...yet.
