Five Obstacles That Impede Successful Learning

Why are teachers leaving the classroom? The Five Obstacles That Can Impede Successful Learning and Teaching! The BIG IMPEDIMENTS and problems are school boards, school districts and administrators ignore, AVOID, BLAME, or shift responsibility to the teachers. They love top-down education reform but never take ownership when reforms fail. Let teachers be professionals and teach. 

The five states of mind that hinder, obscure, impede, and obstructs learning and growth in today's classroom! 

1. Worry-Disharmony

Inability to stay emotionally calm and/or find the mental peace to engage with learning. Students have adult-size problems today and many cannot cope, adapt and or focus on perusing their education when they are stressing and worrying about food and hunger. Their safety, domestic and neighborhood violence, homelessness, and uncertainty of the future. 

How do you teach students that have vast material and psychological needs? We must find ways to meet material and psychological needs while exciting curiosity and creativity. When students know they will never get love and support where we teach you will lose many students? 

2. Hesitation-Confusion

Beliefs of inadequacy in one's own ability and the learning process. Students can get so far behind that they start dropping out mentally in 2nd and 3rd grade, they shut down and start using coping mechanisms like lying and or learned helplessness to compensate for poor academic skills. 

How do you build confidence, passion, and resilience in students that have been left behind? 

3. Stimming-Hyperactive-ADHD

A constant craving to self stimulates the senses or the need to feed the ego.  Non-stop hyperactive behavior as stimming/sensory seeking. Students that feed off of disharmony and actively create havoc can ruin the learning environment for the entire class. Not always due to a lack of executive function and self control but poor parenting.  "He/she is always on the move, talking, disrupting,.."

How do you teach a complex skill when a small or large portion of your class is seeking constant stimulation and attention? 

4. Resenting-Anger

Feelings of mischievousness directed toward classmates and teachers. Resentment and anger can derive from the fear you do not belong or that you are not a welcome member of the group. Students and parents may see the teacher and school as the enemy because of Real Wrongs and Perceived Wrongs or rational or irrational biases towards school.

How to take the 'them v us' attitude out the classroom and school?

5. Torpor-Feckless

Half-hearted or begrudged action, no buy in, even when pushed there is little or no attentiveness to learning. The opt-out, can't be bothered, board, or I just want to be done and finished already. 

How do you motivate "opt-out desk potatoes" and turn them into adroit scholars?