We are almost finished with our dyad placement and I must admit that I feel like I am just now starting to break the ice with both my teacher and the students in the classroom. The "famous person" quality that the students see me as has finally worn off and I believe that they are starting to see me as more than just a new face in the room but someone they can actually depend on and use as a resource.
There was a student in one of my classes who has been struggling with math. I must admit that I think she is just fine in her skills but looking around the room it is apparent that she seems to struggle more, she was always asking for help from whomever was available. Don't get me wrong I think it is great that she was asking for help, but at times it seemed more like an attention issue than an actual "I am stuck on this problem and I need help" issue.
I saw a shinning light this week. We were working on fact triangles and she was having a challenging time with the problems. She did try the first one on her own but then was struggling again. I had been sitting on the floor helping another student with fractions when she came to work right next to me. I gave her a little bit of guidence on the first problem and then let her continue to lean against me while she worked. Every now and then I would glance over her shoulder to check on progress.... I was shocked she was fully focused and getting all of the problems correct.
She was so proud at the end of the activity for all of the work she had done correctly. I came to realize that I could provide a safe learning environment just by allowing her to physically lean on me. Her confidence over the last two weeks has sky rocketed and I have been so amazed.
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You know what I see that I like? You were doing math problems on the floor! You were doing them, students were doing them, students felt free enough to lean on you (literally and figuratively).
ReplyDeletewith out the physical environment thats been created in that room enabling the student to get up and walk when she needed, find a place to work with the type of support she needed, she still may be struggling.
what a great example of being open to allowing kids to get away from the "normal" learning environment of sitting at a desk, and seeing how trusting the students intrinsic motivation to learn and do well guide them to find what works for them.
I think there is a degree of mis-trust in a typical classroom in regards of the teacher towards the student. The teacher doesn't always trust the student to want to learn, and granted, if the student has yet to experience how enjoyable working hard and learning can be, why would they? Which leads to two things: Teaching well enough to create authentic learning experiences (aha moments for every student) and trusting that the student will chase after these aha moments on their own, regardless of what the "chasing after" looks like. I think (and i'm thinking out loud here) teachers and observers associate students being off-task, with learning and focusing on learning in a ways that don't make sense to them. There is a huge difference, you can tell when a student is off task, and you can tell when a student just needs a different environment in which to work, especially if you KNOW the students. If you have taken time to observe the student and see where they are most successful.
I know of one teacher that just throws the ADD label on any child that doesn't respond what deems appropriately to her teaching. I don't know how much reflection she does in regards to the students and in regards to her own teaching. I don't know how much she has tried to adjust her approach to meet the needs of these kids. I just don't know, but it is slightly disconcerting that she throws the ADD label out there so much, almost as if to excuse herself from adjusting her own approach.
isn't that one of the virtues of being a good teacher? holding yourself accountable for what ALL the students learn, especially in a highly diverse group.