Toward the end of last year I had several students who passed welder certification tests and were offered employment after graduation. One of the students had very little confidence in himself and his abilities. This student would get mad when he could not immediately complete or master a task and he would throw things around. I spent considerable time with this student in an attempt to teach him to accept the fact that he could do the tasks if he just stuck with it, took it slow, and stopped being frustrated.
My assumption was that this student would not make a good employee and would only last a short time on the job. Was I ever wrong.
The student stopped by my room last week. He had been on the job for 6 months and had even been promoted. He was confident and collected. When I asked him how he did it he said he remembered how we worked in the classroom to learn a task in small pieces at a time learning to master one step before the other. He applied this to each task he was given at the job and it worked for him.
My overall lesson learned is that sometimes when you think a student is not always listening he very well might be.
Mike, this is a wonderful success story. I wrote my blog before I had a chance to read yours. We had very different students. Even though your student would get upset, he still tried. The student I described really does not try. Your student’s persistence and his remembering how to apply himself to finishing a task, has really benefited him in achieving his goal. In the end his desire to succeed really made the difference.
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