Blog Post 4

Dear Lily,

                It’s good to hear from you again.  How’s your son Harry doing?  Anyway, I may have a few ideas to help you with your student named Jonathan.  By the sounds of things Jonathan is a talented and intelligent boy, who just struggles with reading tasks.  I know it’s easy to jump to conclusions that Jonathan is either disinterested in his work, or bored, but It may be the case that Jonathan has a learning disability in reading.  For example, Jonathan may struggle with reading tasks because he is dyslexic. 

                I just read this article that may help me help you, the article was called How Can I Help Children with Learning Disabilities? by Maguire, or Carlisle, I forget which, anyway the article talks about how if students are still not able to complete the work that they need to, then they should be referred to a specialist for evaluation.  A special education teacher has training in how to help students with learning disabilities that most regular classroom teachers don’t.  It is very important that both you and the special education teacher keep a positive attitude towards Jonathan’s education, and that Jonathan appreciates that his education is still his responsibility.  Students in Jonathan’s position can lose their self-esteem if they think that the adults around them don’t believe in them, or that their work doesn’t matter. 

                It could also be that Jonathan has a language learning disability stemming from his lack of reading comprehension.  If this is the case, then Jonathan would be reading words slowly or incorrectly.  Perhaps Jonathan should be referred to a reading or speech therapist.  I know you’re busy with 24 students, but if you can, you could also try helping Jonathan with his phonological awareness and word-reading skills.  Bye lily, give my best to James.

-Brian Walker

Blog 4

Dear Mrs. Potter,

I understand that you have a student in your class named Lupita who is extremely quiet and you believe that she has a lack of academic skills.  From the knowledge that I have gained, there seems to be a slight language barrier since she has been raised by her Spanish speaking grandmother and does not have much access to the tools that the other children do in their free time.

I would like to point out that she may be as smart as some of the other students in the class.  Since Spanish is her first language, she was able to finish that homework very quickly and also finished a puzzle that many other students were struggling with.  The reason for her lack of participation skills is most likely due to the fact that she is not fully comfortable with English yet.

An article by Kurth suggest ways to make adaptations within the classroom.  The first thing you should do is talk to her a few times a week one to one while the students are working on something.  This might make her more comfortable and she could explain what kind of subjects she is struggling with.  Once you determine her learning needs, you will be able to better prepare her and alter classroom activities.

Marissa

Blog 4 2/19/14

Madison Strong

TE 405

2/19/14

Dear Mrs. Potter,

                I am very sorry to hear about your troubled students in your class.  While looking at one particular student’s case, Eddie, I noticed most of the issues explained were behavioral problems.  It seems Eddie has a very difficult time staying on task and focusing.  He is very fidgety, as well.  These issues may be the reason behind why Eddie is not completing his assignments in school.  After going over some options, I found a few that might really make a difference for you.

                The first option I looked at is called a STAIR assessment, which stands for System for Teaching and Assessing Interactively and Reflectively.  The purpose of completing a STAIR assessment is so that a teacher can record and use what they observe and know about their students.  By using this tool, you will be able to observe and record information about Eddie, which will allow you to form a hypothesis for why he is acting out in the way that he is.  Once a hypothesis is made, it can be tested to see if that is the true reason behind his behavior.  If your hypothesis is tested correctly, you will be able to take action in order to improve Eddie’s behavior so he can start learning more and start getting his work completed.

Once the assessment is completed, a step needs to be taken towards having an intervention for the student to prevent these behaviors from happening again.  An idea I recently learned about is called a mystery motivator.  Like the mystery motivator, there are many other motivational options to choose from as well, such as a contract or other types of scheduled positive reinforcement as well.  For the mystery motivator, a certain number of days will be marked on a Monday through Friday calendar.  If Eddie performs a certain behavior, such as completing all homework assignments for that day, he will be able to look at his weekly calendar to see if that is a day that is marked.  If that day is marked, then Eddie will receive a certain prize for behaving in the correct way.  If Eddie does not complete all of his homework assignments, he does not get to see if that day is marked or not, and he does not receive the designated prize that day.

It is important to stick with the form of motivation that you choose and to make sure that method works for this student.  If you do not notice a change in Eddie’s behavior, a new form of motivation should be tried instead.  I hope this is helpful for you, Mrs. Potter.  Good luck with your class, and I hope all goes well!

Sincerely,

Madison Strong