On April 14, 2015 I
observed two students, Student X and Student Y, arguing about who’s highlighter
was whose. Student Y became fed up with Student Y and proceeded to interrupt
the teacher as she was on the phone with the front office to tell her about the
incident. The teacher dismissed Student Y saying, “Can’t you see I am having an
important conversation?” Student Y returns to his seat and knocks Student X’s
notebook off of her desk. The teacher gets off of the phone and yells at
Student Y saying, “You can’t tell on people if you’re always the one acting
out!” She then proceeds to tell him to pack up his stuff because she is taking
him to his older brother who works as a janitor at the school. I am not sure
how this was an effective punishment because Student Y is now missing valuable
instruction time and his brother has to carry the burden of his younger brother
following him around for the remainder of the day while he is trying to do his
job. Normally, when a student acts out my mentor teacher either yells at the
student, moves the student’s desk in the class, or puts the student in timeout.
When I later asked my mentor teacher why she sent that particular student out of
the classroom; she responded with “He only listens to his brother. No one else.
Timeout doesn’t work for him. He is hardheaded!”
Student Y has a history
of acting out and therefore I chose him to be the student in which I create a
behavior plan for. He also has dyslexia and anxiety and is bilingual. I
identified that Student Y normally misbehaves when he is unable to get his
point across or when another student makes fun of him for being unable to write
notes or finish his assignments as quickly as his peers. The problem behavior
that Student Y exhibits is throwing his pencils down or slamming his notebook
when he is frustrated, he also has a habit of yelling inappropriate things such
as “Shut up punk” to his classmates when they tease him. He acted out usually
once every time I came to observe the class. The teacher tells me that he
usually acts out on a daily-basis while in her classroom. However, she told me
that the other teacher, whom he goes to for Reading and English, never
complains about Student Y, which leads her to believe he just doesn’t like math
or science. I believe that Student Y would behave better if he weren’t placed
so far away from the teacher. All of the students with IEPs are placed the
furthest from the teacher and the closest to the door. I brought this idea up
to my mentor teacher, and she moved Student Y’s desk closest to hers
immediately.
I then observed his behavior in particular for a week following
his move. He seemed to be more engaged in the lessons and my mentor teacher said
that he had not acted out once since he was moved. On April 22, 2015 I observed
Student Y actively engaged in a human anatomy lesson. I believe a huge part of
the reason he was engaged is because the teacher was showing them a video
about bones. It has been proven that students with dyslexia perform better with
tasks that involve technology. Student Y asked, “If you didn’t have bones your
fingers would just stay straight like this?” My mentor teacher nodded and said,
“Yes that is correct.”
That was a great moment for me to see because Student Y
was so elated that he was finally able to understand something and not get
picked on by his classmates. And it was at that moment that I realized why I want
to be a teacher. I appreciated my experiences in my field experience classroom
and they’ve taught me more than a textbook could ever have. I am grateful for
all that I’ve learned from it and this class for allowing me to be able to
understand Student Y’s need and introduce a behavior change plan.
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