Post-blog

Question 1:

My initial feelings regarding working with struggling Math and Science student were proven frivolous.  Prior to this experience I was anxious and nervous, believing that my knowledge of these topics was minimal and that I would incorrectly instruct students seeking my help.  I was also convinced that the students would be unwilling to work and display substantial behavioral challenges.  However, I could not have been more presumptuous.  I was surprised at the amount of math material I was able to remember and loved working with all of my tutees at Lakeshore.  I primarily believe that my initial feelings changed because of my experience with students who were excited to learn and happy to see me each week for tutoring. 

Naively, I was concerned that the diverse socioeconomic backgrounds of my students would lend to an overall attitude that ‘school is stupid’.  I was afraid that most of the challenges I would face with my tutee would stem from an indignant refusal to care about academics.  The situation could not have been more different.  Andrew, one of my consistent tutees, always told me how much he looked forward to our tutoring sessions.  He was extremely attentive and always open to suggestions while working problems or completing homework.  Moreover, throughout our sessions together I realized that Andrew (in addition to a majority of his peers) did care about his academic success.  However, issues at home resulted in multiple absences from school and an inability to catch up with the material he had missed.  Divers socioeconomic and cultural factors play a substantial role in a child’s academic goals and success. 

Question 2:

Prior to this tutoring experience I expressed my belief that due to my struggles with math and science throughout elementary and middle school I have acquired knowledge in relation to alternative methods and strategies for teaching these concepts and making them easier to comprehend.  After working with struggling learners I learned that my personal experiences are helpful in interpreting challenging topics.  Many of the strategies that worked for me also worked for students at Lakeshore.  I also learned that creating a repetitive schedule for students which requires them to retain previously learned information over long lengths of time was engaging for some students.  Andrew loved creating flash cards for mathematical terms presented in our lessons.  He was able to take them with him and review his notes prior to math activities throughout the school day. 

I believe one of my greatest successes this semester was creating a learning environment which my tutees looked forward to revisiting.  I feel that I was able to deliver my lessons in an engaging way by drawing upon my tutees’ learning styles and personal interests.  The challenges during this experience lied in the pacing of the material I was required to base my lesson plans upon.  Although we would move to a new topic each week, my tutees required more attention to basic mathematical functions; without which they could not successfully progress.  With this in mind, I learned that meeting the student’s academic needs was the focus in order to begin teaching the required topics.  As a result of working with these students I have begun to tutor the four children that I babysit on a weekly basis.  They struggle with math and reading in school due to their failure to master foundation skills for both topics.  I have begun to revisit the basic skills that each child struggles with in an attempt to keep them on pace with their school’s curriculum. 

I believe the new STEM initiatives could greatly benefit struggling math and science students if implemented correctly.  This curriculum not only emphasizes science, technology, math, and engineering education, but also the activation of student creativity and innovation.  This outlook on science and math education could be extremely engaging for students. Moreover, another aim of the initiative is to integrate and experiment with the use of technology in the classroom.  I assume that this might also include the use of assistive technologies for struggling learners and students with disabilities.  These possibilities make the STEM initiative appear to be inclusive of all levels of learners. 

Question 3:

The most beneficial part of working at Lakeshore was having the opportunity to both observe the implementation of topics learned in class, as well as implementing strategies learned.  One aspect which is stressed in the field of education is to be prepared for anything or to be flexible.  This of course, is easier said than done.  Having autonomy over your own lesson plans and learning from mistakes builds confidence in pre-service teachers and aids in their professional development. 

It would appear that Lakeshore is prepared to help most students become more knowledgeable in the STEM disciplines through the AVID program.  However, this initiative is lacking for struggling learners.  The pace of their curriculum is unaccommodating and often leads to inadequate addressing of student needs.  Struggling learners appear to be being left behind. 

As a result of this interactive experience I jointed the Student Council for Exceptional Children at the University of North Florida.  Through this organization I hope to learn more about addressing the needs of low-performing students and further my professional development within this area of exceptional education.

 

Question 4:

Throughout the course of this community based experience I have participated in a professional development activity which opened my eyes to resources provided for the education community.  At the Tools for Success Conference I had the opportunity to volunteer and participate in a number of seminars focusing of effective teaching strategies and accommodations for struggling students and students with disabilities. I was able to speak not only with distinguished professionals and presenters, but also with parents of students with disabilities.  Taking part in a proactive approach of addressing needs of staff, parents, and students with exceptionalities assured me that tools for success are available for those who seek it.  I was introduced to man professionals who were willing to help me in furthering my career goals and becoming a successful professional.  In the future, I would like to seek professional development in the area of mental health.  Working with a wide spectrum of struggling students, I feel as if their mental health plays a predominant role in their academic success.  I would also like to explore the connection between socioeconomic status, home life and mental health in students.  

A-day: Session 4

Affect:

Hoping to work with Andrew again, I created another lesson focusing on the introduction of the terms, multiple, factor, lowest common denominator, and least common multiple.  A mastery of these skills would aid the student in his success in solving algebraic equations for Module F. 

Once again, I felt confident in my ability to teach this information effectively to my tutee.  Having already implemented a similar lesson to both an ELL student and multiple struggling math learners (as a result of Andrew’s previous absenses), I felt like these experiences prepared me for situations such as this one. 

Behavior:

Once again Andrew was absent.  But I learned this was because he had moved to another school.  In his absences I was able to work with David, another new student to Lakeshore.  David informed me that he has attended Lakeshore for two months and that he was been held back twice.  His age suggests that he should be in eighth grade, while he is only in sixth.  The tutee appeared to be very shy when we first started, however with positive reinforcement and encouraging language he became for comfortable with me and was willing to speak freely. 

David brought a worksheet centered around adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing fractions.  I was excited that my current experiences with implementing lessons on factors, multiples, LCD, and LCM would help me in explaining this concept to the student.  After reviewing the work he had completed thus far, I realized David did not understand the rules for finding the least common denominator between a pair of fractions.  Therefore, I began the session by teaching him the terms definition, working through examples, and creating a flash card.  Afterwards, we were able to complete half of the worksheet he brought with him.  David’s greatest struggle seemed to stem from his lack of knowledge about the rules for adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing fractions.  His multiplication and division skills were excellent (quick and accurate).  Therefore, we focused on repeating the processes for finding the LCD of a set of fractions and solving the given problem.  By the end of our session, David could accurately repeat the steps necessary to complete this process.

Content:

After working with David, I once again questioned the impact of student mobility of academic success.  After introducing myself and speaking with the student, it was evident that he had attended multiple schools.  I believe that his academic standing was greatly influenced by this academic instability.  Unlike Devan, David had not moved from a private setting to a public one.  However, the possibility of poor tracking of student records and progress is real.  It saddens me to think that David’s needs have been inadequately addressed for this reason.

B-day: Session 3

Affect:

Having unsuccessfully attempted to teach a lesson on the commutative, associative, and distributive properties for two consecutive session, I decided that creating another lesson focusing on the foundation skills for adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing fractions. 

Once again, I felt confident in my ability to teach this information effectively to my tutee.  Having already implemented a similar lesson to both an ELL student and struggling math learner, I felt like these experiences prepared me for situations such as this one.  My hopes were that by understanding the terms, factor, multiple, lowest common denominator, and least common multiple, Destiny would become more confident in her algebra skills and therefore be more successful in Module F.

Behavior:

My assigned B-day tutee Destiny was absent today, so I worked with a student named Portia.  Right away I realized that the student would most likely be an verbal/auditory learner, as she was extremely sociable.  I was going to begin our session making flashcards for the terms, factor, multiple, LCD, and LCM, however Portia explained that she had already learned the material.  So we spend the remainder of the class period completing her homework covering ratios. 

As the lesson progressed it was clear that Portia’s social tendencies were presenting issues.  She attempted to have conversations with her peers sitting close to her, interrupting both of our sessions.  However, after a few re-directions she was back on task.  In order to engage her in solving her homework problems, I let the student write out her work on my portable white boards.  This small gesture made her extremely happy.  Towards the end of our session, Portia became board with her work once again and attempted texting on her cell phone.  After numerous attempts to keep her doing this, I offered her my cell phone to play a math game covering fractions, once again satiating her off-task behavior.

Content:

As taught and discussed in a course on applied behavior analysis, the behavior Portia demonstrated could be described as an escape behavior (attempting escape from a given task through off-task behavior).  After speaking with the student she explained that her cause for escape was the number or problems presented in her homework assignment.  Through observations throughout the session, this explanation was proven correct as Portia often attempted off-task behaviors after two or three problems were completed.  I believe that small brain breaks provided after every three successfully completed problem would have been beneficial for the student’s overall productivity. 

A-day: Session 3

Affect:

Having unsuccessfully attempted to begin my lesson on the commutative, associative and distributive properties during my last session with Andrew, I decided to create a lesson which focused on the foundational skills for solving equations with fractions.  The terms I chose to introduce to the student were, factors, multiples, lowest common denominator, and least common multiple.  With the knowledge of these four elements, Andrew would become more confident in solving algebraic equations using the properties introduced in Module F. 

I feel confident in my ability to teach this information effectively to my tutee.  I had the opportunity to create various activities covering the same material for a student at Argyle elementary for my TSL course this semester.  I feel ask if that experience provided me with insight into general issues students face when attempting to solve for equations with fractions.  I’ve learned that incorporating visual representations of fractions as well as encouraging student participation in numerous example problems prior to the activity, results in a more enjoyable and successful session with the student. 

Behavior:

My usual A-day tutee Andrew was absent today and I had the opportunity to work with a student named Devan.  Devan is new to the Lakeshore Elementary and is completing his second week in the public education setting.  In order to begin our session I asked the student the last topic he worked on in math at his previous school.  He responded with a shrug and explained that at Lakeshore they are currently working on the commutative, associative, and distributive properties.  With this in mind I attempted to review the terminology of the properties with the student using premade flashcards, but he seemed clueless as to what I was talking about.  It was then that I realized, Devan lacked the basic problem solving skills which these properties were based on; just like Andrew. 

Therefore, the lesson I had prepared for Andrew today was at the perfect level for Devan.  But teaching this lesson proved to be a struggle.  The student was extremely negative about completing his work and for a majority of the session, refused to look at the material I was presenting.  He spent more time looking at the tutoring sessions occurring around him and asking why he wasn’t receiving treats or getting to play on the computer. 

Having never experienced such resistance before, I struggled to keep Devan on task.  I was able to introduce the factors and multiples to him successfully and had him complete example problems.  However, when I moved onto LCM and LCD, he completely shut down.  I couldn’t get him to look at his paper or respond to me without prompting and lengthy delays.    I then introduced a motivator to the environment, explaining that if he accurately completed four example problems for the given topic I would reward him by letting him go on coolmath.com.  This incentive proved successful.  However Devan struggled to pick up on the topic.  Consecutive errors were consistently being made when using multiplication.  Having never spent time with the student before, I am not sure if these was due to a lack of understanding or the desire to rush and play on the computers.   

Content:

After working with Devan, the classification of at-risk students was on my mind.  Having previously learned about the factors that lead to a student’s at-risk status, I wondered how student mobility affected this classification.  Moving frequently due to financial instability in the home could translate into academic instability.  Schools may struggle to track the student’s progress and in return inadequately meet the student’s needs.  Moreover, changing from a private to public school setting might present academic challenges for the student.  By not using the same curriculum, the student might be placed in a learning environment which is too advanced or vice versa.