This week, I did not get the
chance to journal. Coming back from our second spring break and getting back
into the groove, my co-teaching partner and I had a lot to do to help our
mentor teacher, such as distributing make up tests, re-organizing the classroom
(including student work groups), and teaching whenever possible. Therefore, I
did not have the opportunity to take such extensive notes as I did in the past
and, when thinking about this, I realized that this shouldn’t be an excuse. If
this week was just a fragment of what my responsibilities are going to be when
I have my own classroom one day, I should try to develop a system that will
make journaling a more systematic, and therefore easier, practice. For this
week’s entry, however, I thought I might try to jot down ideas, thoughts,
observations, etc. I noticed about Ty from my memory. Here goes nothing…
- -
Ty seemed much
more social this week. I’m not sure if it was from being out of school for a
week and missing the other students around her but I noticed that she was much
more vocal with her classmates. The times of the day I noticed when she was
more interactive with her peers was during recess and fun learning centers
(A.K.A. playtime).
- -
This past week, I
tried giving Ty more chances to speak up during whole group instruction,
especially to answer questions. I thought that if she had an authentic audience
(her peers), she might be better able to express her thoughts and share any of
her ideas with the class. I feel that this was beneficial for her. However, she
still experiences great difficulty trying to formulate complete sentences to
answer questions. An example of a sentence she might try to produce: “Um…one
time….one time….I saw………one time I saw….” Ty is very soft spoken already and
when she tries expressing herself, her voice tends to trail off or she will
begin to look around the classroom. One positive aspect of this engagement is that
she is at least talking about something related to the topic. When she used to
answer certain questions, she would try sharing a story that was irrelevant to
what we were discussing.
- -
I had to
administer a test for alphabet, phonetic, and numerical knowledge with Ty in an
one-on-one setting in the centrum outside of our classroom. I had her sit with
her back to the door to limit the amount of distractions. I also allowed her to
sit in the “big chair” while I sat in the little chair. I did this because it
put us at the same level at the table physically and I thought it might show
the same type of equality mentally, encouraging Ty to open up and not feel as
if I am talking down to her. The test was one that she has experienced twice already
this year, once every nine-week period to monitor her progress. I began asking
her “what letter is this?” with a very positive attitude, keeping my voice
cheery and giving her praise if she just even tried to give me an answer. This
seemed to boost her self-esteem and she was more engaged and focused than I had
ever seen her in an assessment setting. Although she made little progress with
these aspects since the last grading period, her attitude and attention seems
to be improving.
- - Once I finished
administering the test and giving Ty lots of praise (i.e., “I am so proud of
you! You are really on the ball today! I can tell you’re giving me your best.”),
I explained something to Ty that I want to try for my inquiry. I told Ty that
for every problem on a worksheet that she finishes, she gets a check mark from
me. If she finishes it and it’s the right answer, she gets a smiley face. I
asked her if that was okay with her and she nodded yes but I think I gave that
instruction rather poorly and not specific enough.
There are many other things I
could say about Ty but I wanted to get down what I can remember from this past
week. Something about this week was different and I don’t know what it is but
what I do know is…Ty got on purple and was able to choose something from the
treasure chest. For any student in this class, that’s a big deal but for Ty…it’s
a blessing to be recognized.
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