What does on do with a student that refuses to take a test or do a worksheet and writes 'Math Sucks' on the test?
It could be the students way of getting your attention, instead of saying he doesn’t understand the work, he just writes something silly instead. I doubt that at 6th grade the kid truly believes that math is unimportant and does not relate to real life situations.
Yeah. Seconding (third-ing?) That the student likely doesn’t understand and is trying to save face by not admitting he’s confused. I had a second grader last year do this, though he didn’t write on tests. He told me to my face that he would never ever use math. Even with one on one support from me he struggled with a lot of basic concepts we were learning. Find out what exactly he’s stuck on, work backwards till you find the preceding skills he does have, and work back up from there with him.
Pull the student aside talk to them. At sixth grade it could be 2 reasons. One being that he or she does not want to participate and being difficult and therefore should receive a 0 but it could also mean the child is struggling and does not want to admit it. With the second being more likely the case I would see if you can work with said student in extra tutoring and confidence.
Student could be showing signs of oppositional defiance disorder, but before you call the CST, you might want to speak to last year's math teacher to see if this is a continuing pattern of an earlier problem. Does the classwork that is not a worksheet indicate a problem?
I’m with him, worksheets and tests do suck. How’s his attitude/behavior at other points during class?
Another possibility is that the student's attitude is stemming from the student's parents. Some parents are swayed by current propaganda that demeans various pedagogical procedures, algorithms with extensive notation (an older idea that might still be around), or the idea that schools are focusing on less essential subject matter and skipping the basics. A student who becomes discouraged about math from such attitudes might be less likely to learn from classroom instruction and less likely to be successful in completing classwork. But more likely, I agree with what was written above. One intervention might be to engage the class or cooperative groups in an activity where they devise situations that super heroes or other fictional characters might need to solve using math, perhaps choosing from any of the math concepts studied to date.
I'd love to know what this special snowflake's parents have to say about this. Maybe they need to come in and see the paper for themselves.
And while it is more than likely he doesn't understand it, it could just be that he just doesn't want to--I have a kid like this in the 12th grade. He only does work when he wants to--he is perfectly capable, because when he does work, it is always correct--he just doesn't feel he should have to.
That's cute. He doesn't want to. What DOES he want to do? I remember being in school and doing things I didn't want to do. Things I hated to do. I did them anyway because it didn't even occur to me that NOT doing it was an option. Teachers were in charge so I did it.
Have you contacted the parents? That's where I would start, to find out if this attitude about math is part of a larger pattern.
I think, so many students are faced with this problem. Like me, I know the material, but when I take the test I go blank. And just had a bad mark, but I never write bad words in my test. It isn't normal!
