The marriage of sign-making & teaching

Who would have dreamed that two years as a Trader Joe's sign artist would prepare me so well for a career of instructional classroom poster creation?

Well, it has. I have a student in particular that spurred the conception of these mini-posters. His tendency is to--immediately upon reaching the next problem in his worksheet or workbook--begin in a whiny voice, "Meeeeess, I don' ged eeet!... (that's 'Miss, I don't get it!...' with a Puerto Rican accent). Of course, this is before he even reads the directions, reads the question, looks for clues or patterns in the previous questions, etc. He just sees that he has to do some actual thinking, and he's learned that help comes running (i.e. thinking for himself becomes unnecessary) when he vocalizes confusion.



I'm trying to stop that behavior dead in its tracks. What don't you get, my little amigo? Articulate to me exactly how I can help you. Look, I even gave you a poster with some choices! He was grumbling a whole lot when I introduced these posters to the class. Old habits die hard, but my being consistent might make him start to think twice about asking before trying something himself. And that's ultimately what we want. :)