A highlight for me last week was working with a student with an IEP during his science test. Last week, students took a multiple choice with a few fill-in-the blank test that took up the entire period. With a quiet room I took advantage and helped this student understand the concepts which he had been defiant to learn about. His reading level is at the second grade level and so initially I was just going to help with the reading comprehension. When I realized he was going to allow me to explain the concepts to him, I did just that. I was first unsure about how my teacher would respond to me doing this as it was a test but she was excited that I understood that understanding content comes first. He and I built a form of trust that day.
These last couple weeks I started going to observe some
mornings along with my usual afternoons. The first morning in I was baffled by
how quiet the students were. I’m accustomed to the afternoon periods where kids
are rearing to go and will always ask for help. That has not been the case with
the first three periods. I’m having to learn how be better about initiating
conversation to review their work but also to just allow them to be independent.
So far, they seem to be getting their work done quicker as well and I’m
wondering if there will be opportunities to give them additional materials to
go above and beyond. I’ve noticed that instead of getting additional
instruction some students take the initiative to hand back work and help with
preparing labs. This is definitely a contrast from the afternoons!
One approach I will definitely adopt in my own teaching is
reading to students. We were finishing a unit on biomes and the materials that
we were using didn’t cover the poles for some reason. Instead of leaving that
out my cooperating teacher pulls out a Dr. Seuss book called “Ice is Nice”. I
thought there was no way students would take this serious especially with a few
that think they’re even too cool for a Bill Nye video. As soon as she started
to read the room went silent and every kid was totally immersed into the story.
After she finished reading every class clapped! It made me realize that we all
love to be read to and it can work at every level not just the primary ages.
A conflicting situation occurred this week when one of our
IEP students did not take his ADHD medicine for two days. Before my
observations began last quarter I was on the fence concerning medication and if
it was necessary or effective. Well, after being around this student for some
time now, it’s night and day. Each day without his medication he becomes
increasingly unmotivated, is unable to concentrate at all, and lashes out with
some interesting comments that interrupt instruction and other students.
Yesterday, they took a test and my cooperating teacher left me in charge as she
had to sit with him the entire time. It’s really unfortunate when this happens
as he normally tries very hard and has made steady gains especially in math.
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