There is a struggling student in the Innovation Zone (Algebra I and Physical Science combined) that I observe often. By the word often - I literally mean I have to stand by him to keep him from distracting the rest of the classroom, particular the three other table-mates that sit with him. Common occurrences are talking quite loudly with fellow classmates during instructional time. What I find odd is that he will continue to talk to classmates that show no interest in reciprocating the conversation. He either doesn't notice this fact or he thinks at some point he will be able to get through to the person he feels should be listening to him. I'm not sure.
Another destructive mode I've watched him cycle through is complete refusal to take part in classroom assignments. He will either hide his head inside his hoodie or he will sit at the table with nothing in front of him. This is frustrating to me because the Algebra and Science teacher often go over assigned work, asking students which examples they need help with before it is handed in for a grade. It would be a simple exercise to copy what the teacher has written on the board onto the homework sheet and at least receive partial credit but he refuses to do it.
The first week of my observation the algebra teacher was going over new material with the students. He had made several attempts to bring the noise down at the table of the struggling student. The science teacher and I circled around the table several times to make it known that we were close by. The teacher tried prompting him to pay attention as well but neither one of these strategies worked. Instead I overheard the struggling student say, "What the hell is with all the teachers?" This was my threshold for what I could handle with the blatant disrespect. I asked him, "How do you expect to learn new material if you talk all the way through the lesson?" He sat straight up and smartly replied, "I won't." I knew at this point I was being challenged. I asked, "Why don't you want to learn?" The reply came quickly, "I don't care." I said, "Fine but maybe the people at your table would like to learn." He said, "I don't care." I can work with a lot of different personalities; I honestly love being in a secondary setting. I fully expect to hear volumes of opinions and slants as the students move into adulthood. It is part of growing up. But disrespect that infringes on the rights of others is a little more than I can tolerate. I replied, "Ok, so you don't want to learn? That's all you; you are only cheating yourself. But the disrespect you show your classmates is unacceptable.” He shrugged his shoulders and I have to admit I replied, “So why are you here? What’s the point?" He immediately pulled his hood over his head and laid it on the desk. At that moment, I knew what I had just witnessed – the first challenge to my authority in a high school setting. I did not back down but I probably did not handle it the best possible way since my emotions had stepped in. I will note, I never raised my voice and I never called him out in front of the class. But I should have implemented a discipline plan that was in accordance with the infraction, instead of allowing emotions to take control. I took in a deep breath and released the emotion. Later I helped him find a homework assignment and he replied with a “Thank you.” Not what I expected. Maybe he wasn’t used to someone taking on his challenge?
After that session, I spoke with my host teacher and I asked her about the struggling student’s background. She stated that he has been in the Alternative Learning Center (ALC) and that he indeed had a problem with authority figures. I believe he has a School Assistance Team (SAT) meeting pending within the next few weeks to address his grades in math and science. I was beginning to get some answers. I firmly believe that when he challenged me and stated he basically didn’t want to learn the material that is was merely a bluff. He wants to learn but his defenses are clearly up and somewhere along the line someone has forced him to resort to defensive measures. The last thing I want to do is turn my back on this struggling student or let him slip between the cracks. Instead, I want to focus on what does interest him. I truly wonder if anyone has ever asked him this simple question but I will get back to this point later. In the meantime, I honestly didn’t know how I was going to breech the wall he had built.
As a clinical student I have been putting in more time than I probably should (currently having 45 minutes in my first two and a half weeks) but it is important to me to receive as much exposure as I can in a high school setting. I want to be ready when I am set loose in my own classroom, especially when it comes to students who are more nontraditional and will quite possibly be my biggest challenge. I observe the student in question three days a week for a little over an hour at a time. I have observed the difference between his fellow table mates when he is attending class, as well as when he is absent. His table-mates are able to focus during his absence but from time to time follow his lead when he is present. I have also observed him during quizzes when he is cheating. I have seen the attempts to rearrange his seating in hopes of finding a situation that may bring down some of the noise level. So far this has not worked. I am not sure what other measures have been taken before I entered the class but I am positive this has been a year-long attempt.
I, myself, have brainstormed ideas as to how I might be able to get through to him without infringing in his space. I’ve dabbled over the possibility of suggesting extracurricular activities; somewhere he can release anger issues or extra energy. I wanted to ask him what he was interested in just to get an idea of where he was coming from or at least understand him on another level. But I could not find the proper moment in which to do this, until today. The class was working on balancing chemical equations when I noticed that the struggling student was already done with his paper. I was impressed. I asked him, “So the shortcut Mrs. Teacher showed you must have helped.” He sat straight up (challenging me) and replied with as much attitude as usual, “Nope. I just copied his (pointing to the student next to him).” I thought to myself for a moment and replied, “I understand you are not interested in science or math. So tell me, what are you interested in?” He softened for a moment and sat straight up again but not in a challenging mode. This time he sat straight up with a more confident mode and replied, “Social Studies and English.” My jaw dropped to the floor. I literally did not expect this response. I applauded this answer and replied, “Wow! I had no idea and I commend you for this because both of those subjects I have always had trouble with myself.” He smiled and then continued, “It is not that I don’t like science because I do. I like environmental science but I can’t do anything with math in it. I just don’t understand it.” The conversation continued with his trouble in math and not being able to find the right math teacher who could make a connection with him. A simple question – “What are you interested in?” and all the sudden I opened up a whole new direction to take with the struggling student. It allowed me to see his weakness and his amazing strengths and for once he wasn’t challenging me, he was having an intellectual conversation with me.
Later, I reflected with the science teacher during her planning period. She related to me how far behind in math he currently is and how much work it would require to catch him up with the rest of the students. She stated the moment he didn’t understand a mathematical function he shut down completely, which ultimately meant more help than could be given in a classroom setting where the teacher needed to focus on all the students. This made sense with what I had observed up to this point which was him shutting down and hiding is head. It wasn't because he didn't want to learn, like he had told me. Maybe it was another defensive mode to hide emotional distress. He's a brilliant mind. The conversation I held with him today proved that. He knows he does not understand the math. He also know the public stigma that goes along with his math deficit. So it is easier to hide his head or blatantly talk over his instructor to shut the sound out. We finally concluded that a plan for his improvement would be one-on-one help for an extended period of time and possibly an inclusive instructor to help him during classroom instruction. At this point, I feel I am moving in a more positive direction than before. I look forward to where this step takes me next with the struggling student.
Another destructive mode I've watched him cycle through is complete refusal to take part in classroom assignments. He will either hide his head inside his hoodie or he will sit at the table with nothing in front of him. This is frustrating to me because the Algebra and Science teacher often go over assigned work, asking students which examples they need help with before it is handed in for a grade. It would be a simple exercise to copy what the teacher has written on the board onto the homework sheet and at least receive partial credit but he refuses to do it.
The first week of my observation the algebra teacher was going over new material with the students. He had made several attempts to bring the noise down at the table of the struggling student. The science teacher and I circled around the table several times to make it known that we were close by. The teacher tried prompting him to pay attention as well but neither one of these strategies worked. Instead I overheard the struggling student say, "What the hell is with all the teachers?" This was my threshold for what I could handle with the blatant disrespect. I asked him, "How do you expect to learn new material if you talk all the way through the lesson?" He sat straight up and smartly replied, "I won't." I knew at this point I was being challenged. I asked, "Why don't you want to learn?" The reply came quickly, "I don't care." I said, "Fine but maybe the people at your table would like to learn." He said, "I don't care." I can work with a lot of different personalities; I honestly love being in a secondary setting. I fully expect to hear volumes of opinions and slants as the students move into adulthood. It is part of growing up. But disrespect that infringes on the rights of others is a little more than I can tolerate. I replied, "Ok, so you don't want to learn? That's all you; you are only cheating yourself. But the disrespect you show your classmates is unacceptable.” He shrugged his shoulders and I have to admit I replied, “So why are you here? What’s the point?" He immediately pulled his hood over his head and laid it on the desk. At that moment, I knew what I had just witnessed – the first challenge to my authority in a high school setting. I did not back down but I probably did not handle it the best possible way since my emotions had stepped in. I will note, I never raised my voice and I never called him out in front of the class. But I should have implemented a discipline plan that was in accordance with the infraction, instead of allowing emotions to take control. I took in a deep breath and released the emotion. Later I helped him find a homework assignment and he replied with a “Thank you.” Not what I expected. Maybe he wasn’t used to someone taking on his challenge?
After that session, I spoke with my host teacher and I asked her about the struggling student’s background. She stated that he has been in the Alternative Learning Center (ALC) and that he indeed had a problem with authority figures. I believe he has a School Assistance Team (SAT) meeting pending within the next few weeks to address his grades in math and science. I was beginning to get some answers. I firmly believe that when he challenged me and stated he basically didn’t want to learn the material that is was merely a bluff. He wants to learn but his defenses are clearly up and somewhere along the line someone has forced him to resort to defensive measures. The last thing I want to do is turn my back on this struggling student or let him slip between the cracks. Instead, I want to focus on what does interest him. I truly wonder if anyone has ever asked him this simple question but I will get back to this point later. In the meantime, I honestly didn’t know how I was going to breech the wall he had built.
As a clinical student I have been putting in more time than I probably should (currently having 45 minutes in my first two and a half weeks) but it is important to me to receive as much exposure as I can in a high school setting. I want to be ready when I am set loose in my own classroom, especially when it comes to students who are more nontraditional and will quite possibly be my biggest challenge. I observe the student in question three days a week for a little over an hour at a time. I have observed the difference between his fellow table mates when he is attending class, as well as when he is absent. His table-mates are able to focus during his absence but from time to time follow his lead when he is present. I have also observed him during quizzes when he is cheating. I have seen the attempts to rearrange his seating in hopes of finding a situation that may bring down some of the noise level. So far this has not worked. I am not sure what other measures have been taken before I entered the class but I am positive this has been a year-long attempt.
I, myself, have brainstormed ideas as to how I might be able to get through to him without infringing in his space. I’ve dabbled over the possibility of suggesting extracurricular activities; somewhere he can release anger issues or extra energy. I wanted to ask him what he was interested in just to get an idea of where he was coming from or at least understand him on another level. But I could not find the proper moment in which to do this, until today. The class was working on balancing chemical equations when I noticed that the struggling student was already done with his paper. I was impressed. I asked him, “So the shortcut Mrs. Teacher showed you must have helped.” He sat straight up (challenging me) and replied with as much attitude as usual, “Nope. I just copied his (pointing to the student next to him).” I thought to myself for a moment and replied, “I understand you are not interested in science or math. So tell me, what are you interested in?” He softened for a moment and sat straight up again but not in a challenging mode. This time he sat straight up with a more confident mode and replied, “Social Studies and English.” My jaw dropped to the floor. I literally did not expect this response. I applauded this answer and replied, “Wow! I had no idea and I commend you for this because both of those subjects I have always had trouble with myself.” He smiled and then continued, “It is not that I don’t like science because I do. I like environmental science but I can’t do anything with math in it. I just don’t understand it.” The conversation continued with his trouble in math and not being able to find the right math teacher who could make a connection with him. A simple question – “What are you interested in?” and all the sudden I opened up a whole new direction to take with the struggling student. It allowed me to see his weakness and his amazing strengths and for once he wasn’t challenging me, he was having an intellectual conversation with me.
Later, I reflected with the science teacher during her planning period. She related to me how far behind in math he currently is and how much work it would require to catch him up with the rest of the students. She stated the moment he didn’t understand a mathematical function he shut down completely, which ultimately meant more help than could be given in a classroom setting where the teacher needed to focus on all the students. This made sense with what I had observed up to this point which was him shutting down and hiding is head. It wasn't because he didn't want to learn, like he had told me. Maybe it was another defensive mode to hide emotional distress. He's a brilliant mind. The conversation I held with him today proved that. He knows he does not understand the math. He also know the public stigma that goes along with his math deficit. So it is easier to hide his head or blatantly talk over his instructor to shut the sound out. We finally concluded that a plan for his improvement would be one-on-one help for an extended period of time and possibly an inclusive instructor to help him during classroom instruction. At this point, I feel I am moving in a more positive direction than before. I look forward to where this step takes me next with the struggling student.
1 comment:
Wonderful story! An example example of how getting to know your students is the first step to improving classroom instruction!Dyscalculia is a real learning difference! I'm looking forward to hearing how you and your host teacher might address this issue!
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