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.
Mary- I think your post is very informational and touches on many points I was going to address in my post!
ReplyDeleteI just want to start off by saying that Mrs. Potter made a great professional decision by talking to her other peers about her classroom. Seeking other professional’s advice in our career is very important, and I think we need to keep this in mind as we embark on our journeys in the classroom. Perhaps, Miss Matthews from Marcus’s case would have benefited from this type of beneficial help. Our peers may see situations differently, and thus, give us a unique look in the classroom.
Moving on to Ms. Potter’s students, I could not agree more with Mary on using visual cues throughout the classroom. One of Breitfelder’s most important points was that students need visual stimuli to concentrate and stay engaged in the classroom. A significant point in the Breitfelder article talked about creating a visual work system for students to follow as they go on with their school day. Work systems allow students to follow explicit directions through visualizations. Jonathon, one of Mrs. Potter’s students, would benefit greatly from this type of system in the classroom. I feel as though Jonathon could follow along better with instruction and would be able to reference these visual instructions to further his learning. Perhaps instead of asking for help, he would be able to figure out instructions on his own with this type of system!
As for Eddie, I feel as though he would benefit from having a type of stress reliever or sitting device to hold his attention. Using a stress ball could help him keep his attention and may be able to hold his focus for a longer period of time. During group time, if Eddie was able to use some sort of seating device, he may stay seated for a longer period of time. Giving Eddie some kind of stimuli to focus his physical energy on may help him focus on material in the classroom.
In Lupita’s case, I feel as though she is an ELL who is trying to fit in with her other classmates. According to our discussion a couple weeks ago (relating to ELLs), I think it is very important to address ELLs in the classroom. Sometimes ELLs are so quiet, because they want to fit in with the rest of the classroom and not be seen as “not smart” by the teacher or students. It’s very important to ELLs volunteer as much as other students. This relates back to the idea of creating a comfortable classroom environment for students to be able to participate in. Students will be more apt to participate and share their opinions in the classrooms in a comfortable environment.
Lindsay - you make a great point in your first paragraph. Talking with your peers is very beneficial. And Mrs. Potter did a great job and had very detailed and positive description of her students. I know I have gotten the advice to “stay away from the teacher’s lounge” because so many teachers use deficit language when talking about their problem students. That negatively impacts your judgments about those students.
ReplyDeleteMary & Lindsay – you both talked about using more visuals and did a great job capturing the main points from the Breitfelder article. I agree with everything you talked about - visuals are so important. I have actually seen many of the techniques that they talked about in the Breitfelder article subbing as a paraprofessional in an ASD room. They have hundreds of small clip art images and the corresponding words that they use for just about everything. The schedules also help them to be so much more independent. You talked about how visuals might help Jonathan understand what to do, but a picture schedule could also really help Eddie focus on one activity to the next. One student I saw while subbing had so much physical energy, but when he had to do his school work from his inclusion teacher, he sat down and used his schedule to “first” do math worksheet, “next do” spelling words, “finish” writing sentences. Three worksheets, one after the other - he was able to sit down and them crank out when only minutes ago he was bouncing up and down.
Ok – so how inspiring was that Maples article!?! Borderline genius idea. Mary – I think it would be a great idea for Mrs. Potter to do this activity. We have to do so much guess work as teachers, so why not try to get some more facts to make that guess more educated. I have so many good things to say about it I don’t even know where to start. The fact that it sets up a great first impression for you as the teacher to the students – you give their parents homework! I love the idea that it gives so much more background on the student, and the first impression you have is from the parent, someone who knows them very well. And then you have immediate insight into that child’s life and a connection to whoever is at home with them. On twitter, Oliva posted asking what would you do if the parents didn’t speak English – this made me think of what Lupita’s parents would do. I think I would have her parents write it in whatever language they were most comfortable, and then use any and all resources to have it translated for me – (community centers, friends, co-workers, etc.). I think things only become problems, if we let them.