Hey group,
I didn't know if I was supposed to go first this week because technically last week was my week to go by Sunday but we all posted at the same time by Tuesday. I'll just go first this week. Sorry if you two were waiting for me.
First of all, the reading that hit me was the Maple reading. Understanding that it may be hard for me to get complete parental support helps me know how much it can affect my students learning. Parents are with the students for the rest of the day that the teacher isn't with them. They know their children. Maple said, "parents are the ultimate experts when it comes to knowing their children." He said that through connection with the parents, they are able to help provide the students with a quality education. By knowing more about students and their families, we can tap into the special things they have to bring to the classroom to share with the other students.
As for the "What Do You Think" reading about three students that seem to be stressing the teacher out, I have a few thoughts on that. First of all, I think it's really great that these teachers have someone to go to, to hold each other accountable for their students' learning, and to bounce questions and ideas off of. I think it shows how much Mrs. Potter cares about her students because she wants to do what's best for them and seeks help to do so.
I think that Lupita might have some language barriers. All she might have knows was Spanish, having lived in Mexico with her grandparents her whole life so far. This might account for her appearance of a lack of academic skills. She shows her intelligence by doing a difficult puzzle, and she shows her patient and efficient people skills by helping out her peers in the class when they can't figure out how to do the puzzle. It seems to me that language probably plays the biggest role here. I'm sure the fact that she wasn't used to having toys, puzzles, paper, crayons, or scissors around influenced how much she knew how to use or interact with them right away. She had to watch how they other kids used them to understand, and her ability to catch on so quickly with the puzzles and interaction shows her intellectual ability as being fairly high. Lupita might need to go into a classroom with a Spanish speaking teacher, or she might just need another student to help her understand the ways of the classroom and answer any questions or misunderstanding she might have.
Reading definitely appears to be the issue for Jonathan. Confidence also appears to play a role. He may be afraid to admit that he can't do something becasue he does so well at other things outside of the classroom. He might need a specialty reading teacher to come in and work with him, or Mrs. Potter might need to send a letter home to his parents with tips on how they might help him improve his reading at home. Hemight also not understand the work so much that he doesn't even understand what to ask for help on so he just doesn't. Mrs. Potter might have to explain the directions to him a different way, or slower than the rest of the class.
Having experience with this with my own family, the first thing I thought of for Eddie was Attention Deficit Disorder because of his trouble at sitting still and his constant desire to keep moving. Another hint was his engagement in the tadpole jar as his mind could have been on a thousand other things, yet he didn't hear what his teacher had to say. Mrs. Potter might have to talk to his parents about how he acts at home or if other ADD symptoms have been noticed. She might have to talk to an IEP specialist to figure out the best way to engage Eddie and keep him engaged.
Just these three students may be difficult to teach at once. Imagining a 24 student classroom with these three students and 21 other students all with their own strategies and styles of learning shows how challenging it can be at times to keep a classroom running smoothly, and ensuring that all the students are learning.
I was thinking that you were going to post first, since we all posted at the same time last week. Sorry for the miscommunication. I will post first next week and we can go back to our normal schedule.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that language seems to be more of a struggle for Lupita than academic skills. However, I do not really like your solution to take her out of the classroom. I think that she is obviously learning a lot from the other students where she is at and because she is still only in second grade, she is still at an age where she can learn a lot of language just by hearing and experiencing it. If she is left in the mainstream classroom, she will have more of an opportunity to learn English. I like your second idea better, that she might need another student to help her understand the classroom better. If there is another Spanish speaking student in the classroom, it would be a good idea to pair that student up with Lupita to help her understand what is going on. If not, it would still be good to pair an English speaking student up with her just to sit by her and help answer any questions she might have. I also think that Lupita may not speak up very often in class because her English is not very good and it is hard to speak in a second language in front of large groups. Lupita may benefit greatly from working in pairs or small groups, where she can use practice her English in a non-threatening one-on-one environment. In planning lessons with her in mind, group work and work in pairs would be a good idea. After practicing in this one-on-one setting, she may start to feel comfortable enough with her English that she will begin to participate in whole class discussions as well.
I agree completely with your evaluation of Jonathon. You listed a lot of good strategies to help him with his reading, but I feel that there may be a couple other strategies that you did not hit on. Having a reading teacher come in and work with him would be beneficial, but it might be expensive. A less expensive option might be to have him go to a resource room only during reading instruction time. During the rest of the content areas, he could just be in the normal classroom. If there is no resource room for him to go to, he will need some sort of assistance during reading and writing time so that he does not become overwhelmed, as happened in the chapter about Marcus. As with Lupita, it may be helpful to pair him up with another student who can read him the questions for assignments aloud. Also, as a lesson is being taught, it would be helpful to connect any written information with visuals, as mentioned in the article by by Breitfleder. Visuals such as pictures would allow him to make a good guess at what the text is saying and would make it easier for Jonathon to get the information that he needs during a lesson. During tests in content areas other than reading, the questions should be read aloud to Jonathon so that the exam is only testing his knowledge of the content rather than his reading skills.
I also agree with you that Eddie seems to have ADD. He seems to focus on too many things at once and has trouble learning when he is still. I feel that I do not know how to adequately deal with ADD, so I like your idea of seeing an IEP for helpful suggestions. One thing that I would make sure Mrs. Potter knows is not to let it bother her when he is moving around a lot because he simply is able to learn better when he is moving. A strategy she can use to help him pay attention is to allow him to stand up while he is doing his work, or give him something to move around in his hands as he is thinking or listening, as they did in the chapter about Marcus. It can be frustrating for the teacher when a child is constantly in motion, but some children need that motion to learn. To cater to Eddie’s learning style, Mrs. Potter might also want to consider doing more hands-on activities and lessons in the classroom. That will allow him to move around and really get involved in what he is learning, which will help him learn better.