2 Habits of Totally Ineffective Teens

I've realized something about the difference between my reading improvement students and my regular language arts students. I don't think it is limited to intelligence. Certainly, there are a few students in my RI class who are a few tacos short of a fiesta platter. But I have a couple like that in my other classes as well. The biggest difference is in their habits.

For example, instead of listening to what I have to say, most of the RI students continue to talk to each other. Some of my other students talk while I'm talking also, but it only takes one or two reminders per day to keep their attention on me. In my RI class, I have students who, after being asked by me to turn around and stop talking, will say, "Alright, Teacher! Gosh!" then, literally two seconds later, will turn back and continue talking to their friends while I am standing two feet from them.

There is another habit that is conspicuously missing from my RI group. My other classes, when asked to do a simple task, such as open their books to a specific page or write their name on their paper or copy notes off of the overhead, just do it. They just do it right when I ask. Sometimes someone will ask me to repeat directions, but then at least I know that that student is attempting to follow directions. The RI students, with the exception of two or three individuals, sit there, talking, staring into space, drawing, or doing their homework from another class. I have to address each one by name and repeat the directions over and over. Sometimes, I just get so annoyed by having to listen to myself talking repetitiously that I just open the student's book for them and place the pencil between their fingers.

Now that I think about it this way, it seems obvious why these students haven't been successful. If I were an elementary teacher with just one of these students who was slowing down the whole class all day long, I would be tempted to work with the students who were working with me and leave the one behind. For all the time that they were off task, they were falling farther behind. I have known other students who were not terribly gifted in the brain area, but who knew the skills and habits needed in school. They were able to keep up by studying on their own and asking for extra help. I am certain that the RI students have hardly ever done homework or studied in their lives, and they have only gotten outside help when it was forced on them. I think that, although it isn't in the state content standards for this grade level, I need to make study skills a new focus in my class.