Decided to chop up my orginal massive post into a couple of smaller posts, otherwise it would be just too messy to be true...
~ Wed 29th June
For the first time since I've begun teaching him sometime last year, Jason really got me angry. Ok, maybe angry's too strong a word for me to use to describe how I felt, it was more, hurt and disappointed...
Before school closed, Jason showed me his report book and it was less than satisfactory. Been attempting to get him to take his work more seriously and hand in his assigned work on time but this proves to be a long uphill process. Hence, I started a stars programme for him. The idea of it was that everytime he hands in his work on time, he would get a star, for more difficult tasks like compo and compre, if it's completely done, I sometimes would offer him a bonus star. Once he reaches the target of 50 stars, he can make a request for a gift (something not too ex of course) from me as an encouragement.
A few weeks ago I realised that he quite likes Star Wars. Was talking to him and asked if he'd seen Episode 4 before. Apparently he hadn't and was very eager to borrow it. I agreed, upon condition that he consistently hands in his work for some time.
On Wed, he asked about it. Unfortunately, every week there seems to at least be one assignment that he hadn't gotten in on time. Makes sense for me to reject him right? I tried explaining to him that no, I will not lend him till he's shown me he can hand in his work on time. I don't assign of work actually. If what I assigned happened to be a compo or compre, that's all he gets for the week. Aside from that, he gets 3 to 4 pages of Maths, which is a manageable amount for him, and then a few pages of Chinese. No Science whatsoever. Only English is due on Wednesdays, Chinese and Maths on Sundays so it frustrates me when he does not complete his work on time. This time, his homework happened to be a compo. It was not done at all.
I tried explaining to him that I would lend it to him, provided that I see that he had gotten in his work consistently for 2 weeks, I even relented and said I was even willing to give in, as long for one week, his work is completely in, then I would lend it to him. At this point, he cried.
It's actually not the first time he cried. Everytime he felt tired or could feel the pressure at all for not handing in at all, he'd break into silent tears and refuse the tissue I hand him. I want to feel sorry for him but at the same time I don't wish to be manipulated into giving in and allowing him to do as he wants. In the end, five mins before the lesson was supposed to end, he stalked away angrily.
It was the first time he left like that. It got me very upset because although I technically hadn't done anything wrong, I felt guilty for making him cry. I was in part angry with myself. I left a message for him to read about what I thought of his behaviour and left.
On Sunday, for the first time since I had begun teaching him, I felt like I didn't want to make my way there. I felt like despite my best efforts, he just isn't that interested. Yet, I didn't wnat to give up on him, not when I have seen students who are genuinely uninterested in Timothy's. He's a nice kid, a bit lazy but a great student overall...
In the end, he gave me quite the surprise yesterday. He completed Wednesday's assignment before time and did his work due on Sunday. Think he did feel a tiny bit of remorse then. Was really happy that he at least put in a bit of effort. =) I happened to bring along episode 4, was thinking that I might want to make peace with him if he's completed his work. Lent it to him after all. Hope he appreciates that rewards are meant to award effort. Hope he continues to strive to work hard. Have rather high hopes for this kid, got room for improvement...