Sometimes a student may have a bad attitude.
Usually this bad attitude is rooted in real life tough circumstances or ways of being.
Sometimes the bad attitude is prompted by classroom events, a teaching method, or other matters.
Nevertheless, bad attitudes happen and those attitudes impede learning.
I'm typically very direct about bad attitudes saying, "I can't teach you if you're not open to learning. I'll do everything I can to help you learn, but you've got to give me an open, ready attitude. We have to work together."
Often when I say those words, the attitude changes and the student opens up to the learning.
Also, after expressing those words, I find that I typically review the plan again and make some changes in the teaching too, changes that serve to eliminate the rise of the bad attitude in the first place.
Teaching is such a give-and-take profession, we work with students to effect the best possible learning. Sometimes it's extraordinary and other times the teacher learns more than the students as we rethink and re-plan the effort for better result.
What's most important here is that we all work with respect for one another--students and teachers, the kind of respect that builds team and positive learning. A worthy and necessary goal for the work we do.
