The title of this article spoke to me right away because I experienced this within my own practicum classroom. I saw students who were completely capable of completing simple tasks one day, to becoming frustrated and saying that they couldn’t do it the next day. Hopefully, you can see the connection between my experience and my inquiry question.  The particular article addresses the question: How do you deal with “feigned incompetence in previously capable, competent children?” To answer this question, the author argues that there are a wide range of explanations for this behaviour. Some students are afraid of failure or they feel that there is a need to maintain an image of effortless perfection to their teacher and classmates. Other students, especially those who suffer from anxiety, feel as if they cannot control the outcomes in their life, so they give up before they begin to avoid disappointment, frustration, or embarrassment. To help combat this, the article suggests that teachers and parents should encourage anxious students to face difficult situations while empowering them to work through their anxiety. Anxious students need to face their fears in order to internalize the belief that they can overcome obstacles and control outcomes.

The trick is to prevent students from developing “learned incompetence”, which is when students act incompetent in order to get help from their teacher. These students know from experience that if they stall or refuse to do something they don’t want to do, someone will eventually do it for them. The trick is to know when to hold back and let students struggle a bit, and when to help out when a task is truly beyond their ability.

Reference:

Lahey, J. (January 13, 2016). When children say ‘I can’t’, but they can, and adults know it. New York Times. Retrieved from http://parenting.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/01/13/when-children-say-i-cant-but-they-can-and-adults-know-it/?WT.mc_id=2016-KWP-INTL_AUD_DEV&WT.mc_ev=click&ad-keywords=IntlAudDev&kwp_0=101034&_r=0