Since my six weeks of teaching has ended, I have gotten the opportunity to teach a small group of 6-8 students. Working with those students has given me insight into what they really know. One student in particular is really concerning me. He is not making any progress, and the other students in the small group are quickly leaving him behind. While I thought he was progressing in his recognition of letters, I began to realize that he is just guessing the letter names. This can especially be seen when I show him the letters of his first name. He knows what letters are in his name, but when I show him the letters out of the context of his name, he does not know what they are. When I show him a single letter of his name, I try to prompt him by explaining that it is a letter in his name. However, he just guesses the letter by going through and saying each letter of his name until he get the right one. There is just no connection being made. I think family circumstances may be contributing to his lack of progress. He is always shifted from parent to parent. And while he is with his mother most of the time, I am not sure she is able to find the time to help him. Laura has made some efforts to help the student’s mother see that he is having difficulty by sending home some activities, but I am not even sure she will look at them. I will continue to work with this student and develop some lessons that will hopefully help him begin recognizing and naming letters.
Now that I am spending time with the students in a different way, I am getting to know them in a different way. I am really connecting to them personally by learning about their interests and personalities. The atmosphere is more relaxed now because I am not the “authority figure” like I was during my six weeks of teaching. It is just interesting what you can learn about your students when you have the time to sit down and talk with them. I am getting more and more attached, which will not make leaving any easier!
Great observations about our little guy. I, too, am frustrated by his lack of progress and our lack of progress in getting anything moving with him from the homefront.
Since my six weeks of teaching has ended, I have gotten the opportunity to teach a small group of 6-8 students. Working with those students has given me insight into what they really know. One student in particular is really concerning me. He is not making any progress, and the other students in the small group are quickly leaving him behind. While I thought he was progressing in his recognition of letters, I began to realize that he is just guessing the letter names. This can especially be seen when I show him the letters of his first name. He knows what letters are in his name, but when I show him the letters out of the context of his name, he does not know what they are. When I show him a single letter of his name, I try to prompt him by explaining that it is a letter in his name. However, he just guesses the letter by going through and saying each letter of his name until he get the right one. There is just no connection being made. I think family circumstances may be contributing to his lack of progress. He is always shifted from parent to parent. And while he is with his mother most of the time, I am not sure she is able to find the time to help him. Laura has made some efforts to help the student’s mother see that he is having difficulty by sending home some activities, but I am not even sure she will look at them. I will continue to work with this student and develop some lessons that will hopefully help him begin recognizing and naming letters.
ReplyDeleteNow that I am spending time with the students in a different way, I am getting to know them in a different way. I am really connecting to them personally by learning about their interests and personalities. The atmosphere is more relaxed now because I am not the “authority figure” like I was during my six weeks of teaching. It is just interesting what you can learn about your students when you have the time to sit down and talk with them. I am getting more and more attached, which will not make leaving any easier!
Great observations about our little guy. I, too, am frustrated by his lack of progress and our lack of progress in getting anything moving with him from the homefront.
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