Noteblog 5-- Due 2/16

After reading the article about Mrs. Potter and her second grade class I had so many thoughts and ideas. The first thing I noticed was that Mrs. Potter realized that there was a problem/multiple problems in her classroom and spoke with a colleague for advice. It reminded me of our TE 402 class. When I have an issue in the classroom or an opinion about something I know that I am able to talk to anyone in the class and they are always will to offer their advice or opinions on particular topics. Talking with colleagues is a great way to work through an issue. So here is some advice that I would like to offer Mrs. Potter about each of her three students.

Lipita-
Mrs. Potter should talk to Lupita’s parents about in school or after school tutoring. It sounds as if Lupita is extremely behind academically and a little extra one on one attention definitely may help. Instead of not calling on her in class, perhaps Mrs. Potter could call on her occasionally and walk her through, for example, a mathematics problem. I do not think it is appropriate to call on her all the time, but every now and again would be good for Lupita. I would hate it if Lupita thought Mrs. Potter were ignoring her. During an assignment that appears hard for Lupita, modification could be made in order to challenge Luptia at an appropriate level of difficulty. If an assignment is too challenging, Lupita might just give up instead of really pushing herself. Lupita does seem to work well with the other children so even pairing Lupita with another student during an assignment might be beneficial. Working in pairs would help both students. This would be benifical as long as the student was helping her and not simply giving away the answers.

Jonathan-
A technique that I have used with children, in particular the children I babysat for one summer, is using material that interests them in a lesson. Because Jonathan is the star pitcher on his baseball team, reading books with a baseball theme might interest Jonathan more. Also, when assigning a worksheet to the class or anything with directions, it would help Jonathan if Mrs. Potter read the directions aloud as well as asked if anyone had any questions on the material. Telling Jonathan to come ask for help was not working. If Mrs. Potter walked around more often to see the student’s progression of work, it might make him more willing to ask for help.

Eddie-
Eddie’s constant need to move and lack of attention span might be something more serious than him not being interested. Since Mrs. Potter is a teacher and not a doctor, she cannot be certain that there is a medical condition, but speaking with the parents to let them know how their son is acting might be insightful. The parents might have noticed this type of behavior at home or even know the cause of the behavior. Eddie is one of twenty-four students in the classroom so it might just be that he is easily distracted by others. Moving Eddie to the front of the classroom, without secluding him from his classmates, might help him focus better. Instead of not knowing what it is that Mrs. Potter had just asked, Eddie might know what she asked and be able to provide the correct answer. Eliminating distractions as much as possible could possibly be a step in the right direction.