....because I care!

There have been this boy in my English and History class that I am really proud of now. From a student that didn't care to do any single word other than writing his name on the worksheet, he has been bringing his exercise books now and participating in class!

Ignorant Stage
On the first week, I gave students diagnostic test for English. I know it is a really tough paper for most of them and I know most of them are dis-invested in English as a subject. They are all learning English as a Second Language, which they hardly see a reason to use on a daily basis. Internet? Oh, they just happily translate all things into Malay, even Facebook.

So obviously they find it such a hard hour to pass. But my instructions were clear, I DON'T WANT TO SEE ANY SINGLE BLANK LINES IN THE TEST PAPER, EVEN IF YOU JUST BLINDLY COPY SOMETHING FROM THE PASSAGE! I repeated the instructions throughout the hour and went to every student to check their progress.

Then when I came to this boy, we shall name him LMan, he wrote his name and started to sleep after attempting the paper for 5 minutes.I knocked on his desk and asked him to try and I told him I know it is difficult for you, but I want you to just try. I can sense his frustration and most probably thinking:

 "What's wrong with her? Can't she just ignore me? It's not like I'll get anything correct anyway?!" 

 He picked up his pen and just quickly circled all the multiple question and zone out in his little own world while staring at the school field. Didn't attempt to do any question that needs filling in the blank. I came back to him and ask him to try again and he gave me a long sigh....... I checked on him for the third time and this time, and this time, he asked:

Why?

I replied him and said:

Because I think you're better than this.

Disruptive Stage
During the first month of teaching, he would bring nothing for my class, do nothing in my class except for sleeping. When I asked him to do his work, he didn't even want to take out a piece of paper and work. I gave him a blank A4 paper and he asked:

Why do you do that?

I replied him and said:

Because I care!

The Turning Point
He started to bring his books and try to copy down his work once I started to use my reward system. Everyone will get 2 Scholar Dollar for being Ready to Learn- which means bringing their books and being on time.

There was once he was being disruptive in class and I gave him my third consequence, which is deducting Scholar Dollar and there will be a permanent mark on the deducted Scholar Dollar. He really tried to refuse it but I found his Homework Book and deducted the Scholar Dollar from him. He got very upset during that class but I told him if you participate in class and answer my questions, you will be able to earn extra Scholar Dollar for participation.

Since that day I deducted his Scholar Dollar, during every class of mine, he will be begging me to give him back the Scholar Dollar I deducted that day. At first, I really needed to explain to him why did I deducted it and how he can earn it back. I even went to the extent of giving him first priority in answering question, but he simply refused to do so.

After a week of begging me for the Scholar Dollar back and my constant nagging how things run in my class, he started to do my work, like seriously. I still gave him more chance to answer, which he did answer and I gave him extra Scholar Dollar for participation. I guess he realised it wasn't that hard after all to earn back the Scholar Dollar, or he is over the 'testing the water' stage.

Now, he eagerly copies down the notes, always ask me to reward him with Scholar Dollar, showing me his effort in class. He stopped sitting at the back now and is helping to me control my class. Whenever the disruptive students talking in class, I would usually do the teacher stare at them and LMan would help me say:

Diamlah! Cikgu tengah ajar!

Although he still has anger issues and would tend to punch his friends when they say stuff he doesn't agree with but he listens to me and is wanting to learn in class. I am so proud of him :)

#OneChildAtATime