When a student is asked to read from the board and instead stares silently, it could indicate several issues.
A teacher's response should be diagnostic and supportive rather than punitive or immediately escalating.
- (1) inform his parents: This might be a necessary step later, but it's not the immediate diagnostic action.
- (2) scold him: This is a negative and unhelpful response that doesn't address the potential underlying problem.
- (3) asked him to repeat after me: This might help if the issue is word recognition or pronunciation, but if the student cannot see the words, it won't solve the root cause.
- (4) know about vision defects if any: Staring silently at the board could be a strong indicator that the student is unable to see the words clearly due to a vision problem (e.
g.
, myopia/nearsightedness).
This is a common issue, and as a first step, investigating potential physical barriers to learning like vision defects is crucial.
Therefore, the most appropriate initial response is to try and understand if there's a vision defect.
This could involve asking the student if they can see clearly, observing their behavior (squinting, sitting very close/far), and then, if needed, suggesting a vision check (which would involve parents).