Building Confidence

I had an awesome experience with one of my students this week that I just have to share. This particular student had been absent from my class a lot during the first quarter. Despite his absences he was still able to get a C because he came for tutoring and did the best he could to catch up.

This quarter the same student has improved his attendance. While at tutoring he told me that he never liked math and has always struggled with it. This week, however, something changed in this student. He came in twice this week during lunch for homework help and even came one afternoon for after school tutoring. He really wants to do well but has convinced himself that he is not good at math. By Thursday of this week he had done such great work that he now has an A in my class. I printed a copy of his grade for him and he told me that he was going to show it to his mom and hang it on his refridgerator. He was so excited about it that he told anyone who stopped by my room that afternoon.

Honestly, I think he simply needed to boost his confidence in math. I attribute most of his improvement to Carnegie. The Cognitive Tutor has allowed him to work at his own pace in catching up on the material he missed during 1st quarter. He does not have a computer at home, but really wants one so he can do Carnegie outside of school. His mom told me he asked for a computer for Christmas so he can work on the cognitive tutor! How great is that! A student who believed he "couldn't do math" now wants to do extra math at home!

When I was teaching without Carnegie materials (using a traditional textbook) the way I was teaching was only working for some of my students. Students like the one I mentioned above were still convinced they couldn't do math. The Cognitive Tutor helps me to differentiate instruction for each student. Also, the real-life scenarios in the text make sense to students. I'm so proud of this student. Now that he has built his confidence I know he will be doing even better. This is a great example of those "Ah-ha" moments that teachers live for. I'm really excited to see what he can do now that he has seen he can do math!