In my kindergarten ESL classroom, I was given a new boy who was looked at as a “behavior problem.” He was switched around a lot from groups because no one could handle him, since there were only four weeks of our program left when I got him, it took some getting used to, to add a new student to our group: more materials, more sharing, going from two students to three.
Jason was thrown into my group. No one told me anything about him. The students wear name tags with their names and group letter on them. He had several letters crossed out and it now said “Group A.” the other two boys in my group told me he was in our group now. Of course, I welcomed him into our group and included him with our activities.
I had gotten used to the pace at which my students had read. They were not self-confident, but if I worked to get there confidence level up, by the end of my “shift” that day, they were reading better than at the beginning. I found nothing wrong with this. However, when Jason came into the group, I had something to compare it to. Jason read a lot faster than my two original students.
This threw off the dynamics of my group a little bit because I had taught them to be nice to each other and respect each other’s reading abilities, and they did, and got along very nicely together. When Jason came in, he got frustrated if Justin and Andrew did not read fast enough, and began to take their turns or read their parts out loud when the others were struggling. This was a tough situation for me because I did not want to tell him to stop reading, because I was afraid that would make him not want to read at all. Unfortunately, something had to be done because he was being very disruptive.
After my first session, my kindergarten teacher started to talk to me. She did not pull me aside, but instead started to talk about Jason in front of the other students. She asked me how he behaved that day, and I told her that he was a little bit disruptive. She told me a little trick that seems to work with him. If I made eye contact, he would look away from me. She told me that if I made eye contact and allowed him to look away five times, while staring at him the whole time, he would come back and cooperate. I remembered this the next week, and it actually worked. Although this seems like it may be negative, I actually looked at it as positive reinforcement. All Jason needed was attention. When I stoped and stared at him, he was getting attention. After doing this a couple of times, he was able to pay better attention to what was going on in the group.
I was able to relate this experience to Goldenberg. His article is based on research about English Language Learners. Not all students learn on the same level, but teachers must modify their work to be sure all students are learning. This is called scaffolding. We must use scaffolding to start where the student is and built on that. I used this to work with Jason in a positive way, even though his intellect level may have been above Justin and Andrew, I needed to work with him more to allow him to work better.
Kaylaaaaa!!! i love how you learned and remembered what the teacher told you. In my classroom I find if i make eye contact with the child, he is much more likely to cooperate. I can understand how frustrated you must have been in the begining, when jason first entered your group but am very glad you were able to find a coping strategy.
ReplyDeleteI also like the connection you made with Goldenberg because not every child lerns the same. One child might learn better through art and the other through reading. I have also discovered this in my kindergarten classroom. Students learn and understand better all in different ways. We as teachers are ssupposed to discover those ways.
How is Jason doing now?
It is funny, because I went through a similar experience in my classroom! My group of students varied between their reading levels. One girl was a really good reader and would read ahead, or correct the other students when they read a word wrong and the other students would get really frustrated and feel bad about themselves because they couldn’t keep up with her. I wasn’t really sure how to handle this, but the advice your teacher gave was good advice. Sometimes students do need a little bit more attention, or even just sometimes a heart to heart talk that lets them know how they’re making other kids feel. I connected this prompt to Goldenberg as well, and I love how you used it in a different context than I. It’s amazing how someone can read the exact same article and get something completely different out of it, and open up your eyes to different ways of looking at things. In my prompt I talked about how difficult it is for English language learners to learn in school and how we as teachers need to accommodate to their needs, just like you had to accommodate to your student. Goldenberg says that we need to work together to help each other. Great prompt, Kayla!
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