Trying to Pay Attention Through a Concrete Wall.
A little boy where I do my service learning is very wrongly categorized as a bad child because he misbehaves to get attention. The child is punished, in this case alienated from the rest of the class, because the teacher labels his conduct as bad. He is seen solely as a trouble maker and disobedient. He is always out of his seat, he yells and talks without permission, he doesn't pay attention, and his work is rarely ever correct or complete. This is not a bad child. This boy is in serious need of someone who will help him and positively reinforce him. I try to help him everyday I am there, but I am limited as to how I can help. I was coloring with him one day and, the teacher snapped at me and told me I had to let him to it on his own. This child needs hands-on help because no one at that age could learn with their teacher on the other side of a concrete wall. .
This child and children like him are ignored by parents and teachers alike and they become conditioned to behaving badly to get attention. Many people would not agree with this argument and would say that children like this lack discipline. This circumstance is quite the opposite. The child needs attention so desperately that he doesn't care to be punished. He just wants someone to take interest in him and help him. One sure way he has learned to get the teacher's attention is to yell and talk without raising his hand. An example of this is when she allows him to join the other kids for the lesson, which is very rarely, he wants to answer every question she asks. He gets so anxious to answer he just shouts it out. She tells him to raise his hand, but when he does she never calls on him. He gets upset because he wants her to know he knows the right answer, but she doesn't give him that opportunity. He yells again and it is back to his secluded desk. His desk is so far from where she teaches that he can't even see her.
