I thought the readings for this week were really great at giving easy solutions to common problems in a classroom, so I chose a select few that were the most interesting to me to talk about in terms of Mrs. Potter’s students.
The first thing I would do for these students was make sure that Mrs. Potter had as many visual cues in her room as possible. Visual supports, as evidenced in the Breitfelder article, are very beneficial in a variety of ways. They can help students who have trouble reading, which seems to be the case for Lupita, Jonathan, and possibly even Eddie. If the students had visual supports for all of their activities, according to the article, these supports could potentially improve their reading abilities, and even decrease problem behaviors (in the case of Eddie and Jonathan). When a student can’t understand something either because they can’t read it, they didn’t understand the auditory direction, or they are just visual learners, having visual cues can make a great deal of difference in regards to their learning success (or failure) in the classroom. The Breitfelder article also provides links to websites with free visual support print offs which could save time and money when setting up a classroom (unfortunately I could not figure out how to post some of the picture cards on the blog).
Another thing that I would make sure Mrs. Potter does for her students is have her parents write about their children in “A Million Words or Less”, like in the Maples article. In previous weeks we have read about the importance of parent involvement, and this article is another great example of the benefits parent involvement can have on a school and its students. In this case, there seem to be many benefits of getting parents involved in even a simple task, such as writing a letter about their child. If Mrs. Potter had her parents do this homework assignment, she could get some very valuable insight as to why all of her students behave the way they do, and it could help her understand why Lupita, Jonathan, and Eddie are having difficulties in her classroom. Mrs. Potter may be able to find a way to connect to her students and even break some stereotypes about her students that she may not even realized she had, just like the teacher in the article.
At the end of the day, it comes down to knowing your students well and constantly tweaking things to make sure your students are getting the best education possible. The better you know your students, the easier these tweaks will be. Just like in the Maples article, you have to teach as if these children are your own. Would you want your “blessing” to receive less than exceptional education? I don’t think so.
