Looking at the three students situations these are some ideas I have to help foster their learning:
Lupita I would say has “limited formal schooling” (Freeman 2004). She is far behind most of her classmates as far as being exposed to the English language because she grew up with her grandmother in Mexico. She is showing that she is capable of learning and accomplishing in other areas, but she just isn’t talking. Lupita needs to develop conversational English to catch up with her peers. It seems the language barrier is one of the main things that is holding her back. Someways to help foster this English language development include having themes so that Lupita can grasp what it is the class is focusing on over an extended period of time. This can also help Lupita to categorize information and vocabulary. Having culturally relevant books and lessons can also help Lupita to connect to what she is learning. Being able to see herself and her culture in any books or other materials can help her in the classroom. Organizing the materials and activities in a visual way that is easier to comprehend can also help Lupita to understand what is going on throughout the day and give her confidence.
If reading is Jonathans main area of struggle the teacher can focus on this. He isn’t asking for help whichi tells me he might be embarrassed or ashamed of his inability to read at his age level. Mrs. Potter can help Jonathan by boosting his reading confidence. Call on him for reading that you are sure he can do. Play literacy games where everyone participates all together so he feels part of the group. Raising his confidence will be very important to get him to be okay with asking for help. Even when he doesn’t ask for help Jonathan should be a student that Mrs. Foster remembers to keep an eye on whenever there is a reading task. Also getting his parents to really be reading with him at home would be beneficial. Sending Jonathan home with books (and the whole class for that matter) might really push for his parents to read that book with him every week.
Eddie has trouble sitting still and paying attention. Activities where he can get up and be physically involved might help him to be in tune with what is going on and being taught. For example: Mrs. Potter talked about the development of frogs verbally. Perhaps if she had had students physically pretend and go through the stages of frog development and/or used a select few students (including Eddie) and had them hold up pictures in front of the class, Eddie may have been more engaged with the activity. Also with Eddie since he was not able to process her question/possibly wasn’t listening in the first place because he was paying attention to the tad poles, she could make sure Eddie is focusing on her words, possibly stand behind him and/or lightly touch him on the shoulder so he is listening then ask him the question and give him time to answer. (He might be processing the question then thinking of the answer then thinking about his response)
Hey Jennifer, you understood students’ characteristics and their capability well and I think you have suggested really good ways to help those students. For Lupita, the first thing that the teacher can do is expose English language to her as much as possible. I think in few weeks, Lupita can easily learn academic skills by just mimic her peers. Also it seems like she is enjoying schooling even though she is struggling with English language which is a good thing.
ReplyDeleteIn Jonathan’s situation, I think it is important to let him know that it is okay to ask questions or get help from the teacher. Teacher is there for students who need help and students are suppose to get help from the teacher if it’s necessary. It is a good point that the teacher should ask his parents to help him read at home or even read to him so that Jonathan feels comfortable with reading.
And to get Eddie’s attention in class, I think the best way is to do physical activities in the classroom so that he can release his energy and he can actually get involved in the lesson. I know that it is very hard for teachers to make everything into fun/physical activities. However, as Jennifer said, the teacher could have modified the development of frogs activity to let students physically pretend and go through the stages of from development.
Jen, I agree with you that Lupita’s language barrier is holding her back. As the maples article mentioned, family involvement among other family factors affect their children’s academic performance. Assuming that Lupita’s grandmother doesn’t speak English and her parents are too busy to be involved in Lupita’s academic life, this may be another huge factor affecting her success as well. As I read in Lupita’s description, I thought about how she did very well putting puzzle pieces together. And after reading the Breitfelder article, I immediately thought that Lupita might benefit with more visual cues. If her teacher were too add more visual support in her daily lesson plans, Lupita might understand what is going on in the classroom and perhaps benefit her academic performance.
ReplyDeleteAs you mentioned, reading is Johnathan’s main area of struggle. I completely agree that his teacher should develop ways to boost his confidence. And I like your idea of calling on him for readings that you know he can do. If he is successful at reading in front of the entire class or even alone, he may be confident to do it again. One thing I noticed in the Breitfelder article was that “one of the most effective ways to get students to process language is through the use of visual supports.” If Jonanthan is having a hard time reading, it may have to do with his ability to process langage. His teacher may want to consider involving my pictures or visual cues to help him process written language.
As for Eddie, to me, he shows signs of ADD where he is focusing on too many things at once. He definitely needs something to grab his attention better. I like your idea of having him hold up pictures in front of the class to help him have something effective to do. I will refer to the Breitfelder article again since it seems that there is one same factor that is very effective for learning. It mentioned that students with learning disabilities such as ADD or other learning disabilities can benefit from visual cues as well. The article says that visual support can help with many things such as “eased transitions, feeling of empowerment by having visual choices, clearly defined expectations through the use of pictures, longer attention span, reduced anxiety, concepts become more clear, and the ability to help express his or her thoughts.” An increased use of visual support may help Eddie focus longer. The problem with the tadpole lesson, in my opinion, was that maybe the teacher needed to have the content of the lesson illustrated as well. She could’ve easily had pictures of the egg laying stages. Then, after learning about how they lay eggs, would be a good time to bring out another visual, the jar of tadpoles. This way, perhaps Eddie’s attention is there the whole time.