Reluctant Learner

Reluctant learners are a reality of the world. They are found in the work place as well as in schools. Dealing with them can be problematic, but finding their strengths are half the battle. We know that this student excels in mathematics. While she can not be excused from the project, she may be able to focus on different things than the rest of the class is focusing on. If we can engage this student in nontraditional ways she can still contribute to the group. Giving her the task of creating a timeline and incorporating numbers into the times that the actions occurred within the book may be enough to draw her in. She can also be the one to organize and input the information from the other students within her group. Putting her in control of something that is related to the structure and organization of math is something that plays to her strengths.

Also, perhaps taking her aside and explaining why her assets are needed for her group may get her on board. She really needs to do the assignments that are required of the rest of the students, however, being understanding and maybe giving her a different rubric to go by of what is expected of her could take some of the pressure off from her. She is a student who obviously doesn't feel valued, doesn't trust many, and feels inferior in some of her subjects. With a teacher who is understanding of all that, and recognizes those issues, she may just learn that she can excel at things other than math, such as reading and writing.