An Easy Fix

Sometimes a student completely misses the mark on an art project. When that happens, I usually try to figure out if it is a learning disability, a behavior problem (willfully not following directions), or something else I can learn to deal with. Over the past few weeks, I have gotten to know which students have disabilities or special needs that affect their success in my class, and have tried my best to help them overcome their obstacles. Today one of my kindergarten classes was completing a project on primary colors. I got this lesson plan from my cooperating teacher when I was student teaching last year. Each student was supposed to paint a gumball machine in primary colors:

A few students didn't quite follow the directions, and ended up with some secondary colors (i.e. green) in their gumball machines:

But one student completely missed the mark and turned in a painting that was completely black:

Since I had reviewed the directions and the primary colors over and over again for two weeks, I knew something was very wrong here. I decided to ask his teacher how he was doing in other subjects. She said, "He's doing great! He's very smart." That surprised me because he had completely messed up the subject and the requirements for color. I explained to her exactly what he had done in my class, and asked if she knew why that would have occurred.

She explained that this little boy is emotionally handicapped, and he is not comfortable with me yet. She said he always has a terrible day at school when there is a substitute teacher. However, the solution was easy: all I need to do is support him and encourage him frequently, talk to him a lot, and give him hugs. What an easy fix! Next week, I will make sure that he knows that I care about him and think he is doing an awesome job, and hopefully he will respond by doing well.