Week Nine

The last two weeks have been crazy.  Last week was a short four-day week with early dismissal on Friday.  Yesterday was early dismissal for the students, and then parent-teacher conferences until 9pm.  Today was a teacher institute at the district.  We have also had a complete overhaul of the way we do math. 

The change in math has been very interesting.  Since the beginning of the year, five students from my class have been going to a math intervention program, which is taught by a special ed teacher.  The school has recently been given the opportunity to extend this program to more struggling students.  With more slots available for struggling students, an additional seven students from my class also qualify, bringing our total number of students in the math intervention to twelve of our twenty.  Because so many of our students qualify for this intervention, my CT and I will each teach a small group using the math intervention in our classroom.  Our students who are working at grade level go to other classrooms during math time. 

This math intervention is a scripted program that we are required to follow.  I do not teach the lowest group, but my group of second graders is starting at adding numbers up to 10.  While it is both heart-breaking and mind-boggling to me that these students are in second grade and need help adding numbers up to 10, I must remind myself that these students are better off going to back to the basics to build knowledge than they would be struggling with grade-level material that they simply cannot handle.  This program is heavy on manipulatives and step-by-step instruction.  It includes vocabulary and games.  I like working with my group of six students.  Two students are from my classroom, and the other four are from other classrooms.  I am enjoying getting to know some new students.  I hope that I can work with them to build that baseline knowledge and help them develop some number sense so they can become confident and competent math students.

My biggest learning experience of the week by far was parent-teacher conferences. I have attended many conferences as a parent in the past, and this was my first experience on the other side.  During one conference I attended last year, my son’s fourth grade teacher gave me a lot to think about from a professional standpoint.  She was a second-year teacher, probably about 24 years old.  I do not doubt she was a competent teacher, but her youngness really showed in the conference.  She was a little bit too casual, did not have a lot of information prepared to share with us (which could be because this particular son of mine does not struggle in school), and she referred to my husband and myself as “you guys.”

My CT was the complete opposite.  She was professional to the point that I wondered if it would have helped the parents understand better if she dialed back the professional language she was using.  For most of the parents we spoke with last night, English is not their first language, and I thought that words like “automaticity” were probably difficult for them to understand. (I kept these thoughts to myself.)  Several families required a translator.  In all fairness, she did say that she treats the parents all the same way, which is the way she would expect to be treated in a parent-teacher conference.  She did not tiptoe around or sugar coat hard topics.  She always led by stating the positive things about the students.  She did ask tough questions and tried to help parents understand the seriousness of their children’s struggles where applicable. 

There were not many surprises at the conferences, save one big one.  Overall, the conferences were very enlightening.  One of our children who struggles tremendously with reading was there with his mom.  She said through a translator that she does not speak any English, and she knows that he has a hard time in school, but she cannot help him because of her English language deficiency.  Several parents committed to working on sight words with their struggling readers.  For one of the problematic students, it was clear that he has a strange home life.  The big surprise was that we learned one of our students who struggles with a great number of things needs glasses (which he broke before school started and were never replaced) and has a medical issue that we were not aware of.  I wish I could go into more detail, but for the sake of student privacy I will leave it at that.  The conferences were tremendously enlightening, especially in that it helps me see my students in the context of their larger life. 

The language concerns that came up last night at conferences came to light again at the teacher institute.  One of the sessions I went to was about reading, differentiation, and literacy, especially in regard to K-3 ELL students.  I especially enjoyed reading the below document.  It really reminded me of the struggles my ELL 2^nd graders endure:

I am part Puerto Rican and one of my undergraduate majors was Spanish. I was a good Spanish student, and was able to read and write Spanish competently by junior year in college.  Then I went to Spain for a semester and stayed with a family.  That is when I REALLY learned Spanish.  It was so hard to learn how to speak Spanish competently and I made so many mistakes.  It would do me well to remember these experiences when dealing with my ELL students, in order to show some understanding and compassion for their struggles.  Ideally, I will be able to show proficiency in Illinois Professional Teaching Standard 6J, which states, “The competent teacher selects, modifies, and uses a wide range of printed, visual, or auditory materials, and online resources appropriate to the content areas and the reading needs and levels of each student (including ELLs, and struggling and advanced readers).”

Language Arts went better this week.  Something that came up at the institute and that my CT and I have been talking about with regard to ELA is the gradual release of responsibility to the students.  That is how my CT plans ELA for the week.  On Monday there is a lot of instruction and modeling.  Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday students practice with varying amounts of assistance.  On Friday, students are expected to show what they know in some sort of assessment.  Looking at the plans this way makes a lot of sense to me, and helps me understand the big picture. 

My goals this week are:

• Continue improving my ELA teaching
• Improve at teaching and managing the class simultaneously rather than alternating
• Be more aware of my students language struggles
• See my students in the context of their families, not just the kid I see in my classroom everyday