The Big E is haunting me
This, my last semester before student teaching, has been an experience. I'm only taking three classes, which is all I need to finish up before student teaching, so I thought it would be a cake walk, particularly considering that I took five classes both semesters last fall and four classes during the summer. Keep in mind, I work full time and I still manage to maintain a 3.7 GPA (bragging).
Despite the fact that my butt only has to be in a classroom four days a week for about an hour and a half apiece, I still have to complete 20 service hours each at two different locations as well as tutoring an elementary student in reading on Saturday mornings for my literacy class.
So yeah, I'm busy. And the literacy tutoring is the thing that's keeping me awake at night and my brain spinning most days at work. I've been assigned a second year old urban student who I affectionately refer to as the Big E when I'm thinking about him outside of our tutoring sessions.
When I was waiting to see what kind of kid I'd get, I prayed for a boy. I know that sounds weird, okay. But see, I have limited experience working one on one with young male students, and I wanted the experience. The Big E is a young male student, he's in second grade at an urban school (though I'm unsure which one). He is NOT motivated to participate in any of the diagnostic assessments that I'm giving him so that I can determine which skills he needs the most help with.
When I say not motivated, I mean, the kid lays his head on the crook of his arm and mumbles answers to all the questions I ask him. The first visit consisted of an attitude and an interest survey. So I asked him questions about what he likes to watch and read, and questions about how he feels about different reading activities. Mumbled answers, didn't want to read any of the books I brought in from the library.
The second week, his mom did not bring him in. Not sure why, so I worked with one of my fellow students on all the reading assessments which included a phonics mastery survey, a short reading passage and a list of sight words. The little girl she was working with is a very good and enthusiastic reader. She is and was essentially the opposite of my student, Big E. I was disappointed E didn't show up that second Saturday because I spent a lot of time finding online spelling and word games as well as books that I thought he would find more fun based on his interest survey.
The third week, E was back and acted pretty much the same as the first time. I had to tell him to pick his head back up several times. On the phonics mastery, E would say the sounds of each letter, but not read them together as words, which was frustrating. On the reading passage, which he really only had to read for one minute (he didn't know that), he read about 36 words and promptly quit as soon as he came across a word he didn't recognize, and that was on a first grade level, not a second grade level. However, on the educational games, which involved spelling or phonics skills, he performed perfectly. So I was perplexed. I talked to my professor about it after class and we agreed that I needed to find another way to assess those skills, so I'm going to give it another go this next Saturday. This time, I broke it up into a token economy exercise, so he earns stickers towards prizes based on what he does. I'm also got some books from the library about LeBron James (the local hero) and I'm going to pull in a note from his family foundation website that talks about perseverance as well as a video talking about how Mr. James himself chose to read in order to relax before and after play off games back in 2012.
So why is The Big E haunting me? Because he's the kind of student I want so much to be able to reach. Because despite the successful reader and writer that I am now, I was once a kid that had a lot of trouble learning to read. I had trouble with reading comprehension, specifically. And I gotta say, my self esteem suffered for years as a result. I had such a poor sense of self even into my twenties, not realizing my potential or my own worth.
I know that sounds like I'm exaggerating, but really, when you think you are dumb, it has a huge effect on you. And what can make you feel more dumb than watching your peers around you continue to succeed at a skill that you know deep down you need to have, while you struggle? So I'm constantly spinning, trying to think of ways to motivate him into participating, looking into online educational games, and now apps for my Nook, which might turn out to be the most worth my research time. I'm pulling in all this tech because he keeps mentioning how he "wishes he had his tablet/could play on his tablet." I know part of the key is to build up his success rate so that he gains confidence and starts to feel more comfortable to take risks in reading new words. So I just have to figure out how to do that. This week's experiment is called token economy/role model/tech.
Wish me luck.
Despite the fact that my butt only has to be in a classroom four days a week for about an hour and a half apiece, I still have to complete 20 service hours each at two different locations as well as tutoring an elementary student in reading on Saturday mornings for my literacy class.
So yeah, I'm busy. And the literacy tutoring is the thing that's keeping me awake at night and my brain spinning most days at work. I've been assigned a second year old urban student who I affectionately refer to as the Big E when I'm thinking about him outside of our tutoring sessions.
When I was waiting to see what kind of kid I'd get, I prayed for a boy. I know that sounds weird, okay. But see, I have limited experience working one on one with young male students, and I wanted the experience. The Big E is a young male student, he's in second grade at an urban school (though I'm unsure which one). He is NOT motivated to participate in any of the diagnostic assessments that I'm giving him so that I can determine which skills he needs the most help with.
When I say not motivated, I mean, the kid lays his head on the crook of his arm and mumbles answers to all the questions I ask him. The first visit consisted of an attitude and an interest survey. So I asked him questions about what he likes to watch and read, and questions about how he feels about different reading activities. Mumbled answers, didn't want to read any of the books I brought in from the library.
The second week, his mom did not bring him in. Not sure why, so I worked with one of my fellow students on all the reading assessments which included a phonics mastery survey, a short reading passage and a list of sight words. The little girl she was working with is a very good and enthusiastic reader. She is and was essentially the opposite of my student, Big E. I was disappointed E didn't show up that second Saturday because I spent a lot of time finding online spelling and word games as well as books that I thought he would find more fun based on his interest survey.
The third week, E was back and acted pretty much the same as the first time. I had to tell him to pick his head back up several times. On the phonics mastery, E would say the sounds of each letter, but not read them together as words, which was frustrating. On the reading passage, which he really only had to read for one minute (he didn't know that), he read about 36 words and promptly quit as soon as he came across a word he didn't recognize, and that was on a first grade level, not a second grade level. However, on the educational games, which involved spelling or phonics skills, he performed perfectly. So I was perplexed. I talked to my professor about it after class and we agreed that I needed to find another way to assess those skills, so I'm going to give it another go this next Saturday. This time, I broke it up into a token economy exercise, so he earns stickers towards prizes based on what he does. I'm also got some books from the library about LeBron James (the local hero) and I'm going to pull in a note from his family foundation website that talks about perseverance as well as a video talking about how Mr. James himself chose to read in order to relax before and after play off games back in 2012.
So why is The Big E haunting me? Because he's the kind of student I want so much to be able to reach. Because despite the successful reader and writer that I am now, I was once a kid that had a lot of trouble learning to read. I had trouble with reading comprehension, specifically. And I gotta say, my self esteem suffered for years as a result. I had such a poor sense of self even into my twenties, not realizing my potential or my own worth.
I know that sounds like I'm exaggerating, but really, when you think you are dumb, it has a huge effect on you. And what can make you feel more dumb than watching your peers around you continue to succeed at a skill that you know deep down you need to have, while you struggle? So I'm constantly spinning, trying to think of ways to motivate him into participating, looking into online educational games, and now apps for my Nook, which might turn out to be the most worth my research time. I'm pulling in all this tech because he keeps mentioning how he "wishes he had his tablet/could play on his tablet." I know part of the key is to build up his success rate so that he gains confidence and starts to feel more comfortable to take risks in reading new words. So I just have to figure out how to do that. This week's experiment is called token economy/role model/tech.
Wish me luck.
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