I met with my student the other day. This is going to be harder than I thought.
We started with the basics. I showed her how to logon to the computer and we talked about why she needed to do this. I explained about security and the importance of logging off. Especially in a school that tracks computer usage. If she fails to log off and someone uses her profile to download inappropriate files, she’ll be blamed for it. I honestly don’t think she has any idea what we talked about!
My student was falling behind in one of her classes, so we spent the bulk of our time together working on getting her assignments completed. I didn’t really teach her much this time around, but I think she felt accomplished. She had been stressing about getting work done and keeping her grades up. Something I’ve noticed in working with her is that I have to keep her spirits up. She knows she has an IEP and learning disabilities. And she’s willing to let them take the blame for her problems. I find myself saying things like “everyone has trouble with this at the beginning, don’t worry about it. You’ll get it.”
It’s almost like a challenge. Can I keep her morale up?
