What?
During my first day of observations, the teacher asked the students
to work in groups. Their assignment was to define one word, write down a couple
of synonyms, and provide a non-example of the word. Then to show better
understanding of the material, they were asked to use what they defined in a
short sentence. Mr. P allowed the students to choose their own groups, which
resulted in a couple students working on their own. These students weren’t of
particular interest to me until I realized one of them didn’t finish the work
sheet in the allotted time.
So What?
In the end, the struggling student finished the assignment
with my help while all the other students were presenting their answers. This
student genuinely wanted to complete his work, but needed someone else’s input
to do so. I was proud of him for eventually answering the last two questions under
my supervision, but then quickly started to worry because I knew he missed all
of the information his peers were presenting. It seemed like this student just
kept falling behind. Maybe this student will catch up on his own, but we all
know how hard it will be for the student to complete the readings without a
clear knowledge of key words.
I also worry for the student because he is very quiet.
Thinking back on that day, I walked near this particular student on my way to
helping another pupil who called out for my help. When I passed the more quiet
student’s desk, he kept looking around instead of focusing on his work. Unlike
the louder student, the individual who I am now analyzing never yelled out for
my help nor did he turn to any of his other classmates for assistance. During
my other observations, I noticed that he didn’t interact with his peers much before
class started either. I am almost positive that his shy demure kept him from openly
displaying his confusion right away and I am certain his timid behavior made
him incapable of inserting himself into a group when people were choosing their
partners. However, since it was a group assignment, he should have been
appointed a group for the sake of consistency.
I wonder if working in a group would have helped the solo
student more. Doing work with your peers can allow students a chance to receive
more individual attention than they could receive from a teacher. Plus, a
student performing the work correctly is modeling their thoughts and actions on
the subject to an extent, thereby showing other students good thinking
strategies. However, working with others doesn’t guarantee more understanding
as our discussion on cooperative group work showed. In a scenario where group
work was solely used, the student could have just copied the group answers down
without any understanding. With words on his paper, I wonder if I would have
been able to notice this student’s confusion or if he would have fallen through
the cracks that day?
I want to make clear that Mr. P. did help that student. During
the activity portion of the class Mr. P. guided him through the first two questions.
On the one hand, making sure the student had the definition and synonym is
important because that portion of the activity helps the student answer
everything else. However, finding the synonyms and definition was also the
easier part of the activity. All the students had to do was look everything up
in a dictionary and read the example sentence in their textbook. It was
actually a problem a few of the students had at the start of the activity. I
feel like modeling how to do the activity or clarifying the first steps may
have saved the students some confusion at the start so we could have gone
around and challenged the students with the harder material.
Regardless, I appreciate the fact that Mr. P. reached out to
this student while still respecting the needs of the whole class. Mr. P.
probably realized he could have spent a much longer period of time with the
student I later observed, but left the student to work on his own because other
groups also needed Mr. P’s attention. It always frustrates me when a struggling
student can’t have the full attention of a teacher, but I am coming to
appreciate it is the job of the teacher to be there for everyone. Still, even
though I understand why a teacher moves on from helping a student, I can’t stop
wondering how the child would have finished the assignment without my extra
guidance. Better yet, how badly would his ego have been damaged when he was
told to present and only half the activity was done? So even though I
understand what happened that day, I am still bothered by it.
Now What?
I was already thinking about this as I was preparing for the
lesson I taught last week. So, to help students with the more analytic work, I
made sure to model the basic thinking process in the hope of avoiding simple
redundant questions. I also ended up assigning students to groups this class. I
did this out of the hope that working together give the student the extra
support I wouldn’t be able to as I worked with other members of the class. Furthermore,
I had in my notes that I needed to walk around visiting every group. With each
group, I had the goal of paying closer attention to nonverbal language. I
attempted to have it be more of a cooperative learning experience, so I
assigned roles. One of which was a coordinator, who had the job of including
everyone in the conversation. However, I used the model one of my previous
teachers taught me (and that was apparently the wrong way to do cooperative
learning), so it really doesn’t surprise me that this student didn’t come out
of his shell. He really wasn’t forced to because the structure I implemented
didn’t encourage it. I just made him to sit near people without taking into
consideration personalities (I honestly just tried breaking apart the trouble
makers). I am believe that because I actually understand different ways to
implement a more cooperative atmosphere, I will be able to better help this
child during a group activity if my next lesson calls for one. Also to
encourage a community of learners, I will defer to Mr. P’s judgment about whom
the shy student feels most comfortable working with so that I can allow the
student to be part of a community during my next lesson. I figure doing
something as simple as think-pair-share in a comfortable environment will allow
him to have a voice in the next class. I realize this is a small step, but for
a student who normally doesn’t speak, I think this is an important first step. If
it is possible to fit into my next lesson, I might work on teaching students
how to have more of a voice in a conversation as well. If it doesn’t fit in,
then I know this is something I would do if I was there longer
In terms of my professional identity, I need to be careful
with how I think about a struggling learner. Much of my language used earlier
was closer to feeling sympathy for the student rather than empathy, i.e. when I
said I worried about his ego and his shy behavior. I think calling this type of
student a struggling learner will automatically connotate sympathy from me as
it makes me think of someone who tries, but just can’t succeed and thereby
harder to properly care for them. I am going to call the student I am thinking
of now a persistent learner to elicit a more positive way of thinking. In using
the term persistent, I am less likely to lower my expectations because I
re-channeled my perspective of the situation so that the student will be able
to succeed. To properly care for this type of student I am also going to have
to make myself more available. In order to keep my expectations high, such a
student does need extra help. This means I will offer to be at school 30
minutes before class and an hour after to give the persistent learner the care one
actually needs.
Lastly, I decided I will need to care for my other students
a great deal more, especially when I have my own class. I will again make sure
to visit as many students as possible during my next lesson when I assign them
an activity. However, in the long term my only solution thus far is to check in
with myself during the middle of the week to see who I have been overlooking. I
remember Mr. Laplante mentioned how he overlooks the teachers in the middle so
that is his focus this year. I am wondering if his strategies may be applicable
to how I could deal with my own students. I think I am going to ask him this
question the next time I see him. I also think I need to ask my cooperating
teacher exactly what he does to balance the success of his class with the long
term success of the struggling student.
I feel a little more content about working with this
particular student in the short term. Though until I get some more feedback about
this topic, I am not as content about my long term success with balancing this
type of learners’ needs with the rest of my students’ needs.
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