Josh was referred to Robert Daniel, our School Outreach Coordinator at Lakota Middle School, for low motivation to do his school work. In the past he had fallen behind in math and language arts classes because he had a tendency to give up on assignments that he did not understand, rather than ask questions and seek out help. He was also less than willing to try out new kinds of academic tasks, for fear of failing. His attitude was that it would be better to not try, than to try only to then fail.  As Josh fell further and further behind in school, his motivation to dig himself out of that hole was very low.  In addition to this, Josh started the year with relatives living in his house that were causing him and his mom a great deal of stress at home, and he would often come to school bearing that stress.

When Robert first started working with Josh, they had a great deal of academic work to do. Robert enrolled him into his intensive tutoring program, and spent time re-teaching a number of concepts, including whole units of math and concepts for language arts and social studies. There was a lot to make up, but Robert knew that Josh had the capability to master it all with one-on-one help. Robert also worked to build up his academic confidence, and show him that he really was capable of being successful in the classroom.