Day 10

Today Karen and I worked on some economics on E2020. As we struggled through the equations, I realized that Karen didn't seem interested at all. Even though she's motivated to finish her work so she can graduate, it doesn't seem like she enjoys learning at all. But how could she? I really can't stand the E2020 program because of the lack of face to face interaction with a real teacher. I wish that all of the kids at Classic City had access to a tutor because it makes learning so much more personal. I noticed with Micheal that there were a lot of conventional mistakes he made when doing homework- he rarely read the questions and a lot of times he just guessed on the answers. But how do I encourage a student that isn't a natural learner how important learning actually is?

This reminded me of the third book I read for class, Why Don't Students Like School? Many students struggle in school because of the lack of enjoyment they get from learning and answering questions. According to Willingham, the author, the difficulty of a problem must be just right for students to actually enjoy solving it. If it is too easy, the lack of challenge bores them. If it is too hard, students will get frustrated and feel helpless. But there is a certain sense of satisfaction in finding the solution to a difficult problem- it gives students a feeling of hopefulness and accomplishment. Willingham says that we as humans are "... naturally curious, and we look for opportunities to engage in certain types of thought. But because thinking is so hard, the conditions have to be right for this curiosity to thrive, or we quit thinking rather readily" (Kindle loc. 253).

I want to strive to pique Karen's curiosity about economics to help her enjoy solving econ problems more. I am attempting the scaffolding technique- help her get to the answer and then slowly pulling back until she can solve it herself. So far it is working very well with econ, and Karen seems to be catching on. I'm interested to keep trying next week.