The Student That I Have Been Working With Over The Past Six Weeks

As advocates for students, compassion is key. Throughout my life as an elementary, middle, and high school student I felt like That Kid. In elementry school I didn’t have the reliable family environment I needed to succeed fully. I am also dyslexic and have Attention Deficit Disorder. In middle and high school, I began to fall ill and was diagnosed with a heart condition and a seizure condition. These experiences and the challenges I overcame to graduate with my class and to be where I am today have given me great insight. I am a wiser, more caring, and loving person because of it and my students will

      I selected my student from one of my students that I viewed to have some of the worst behavior in the class. I am at Bond Elementary School which is an intercity school. Most of the school’s student population comes from subsidized housing (the projects). I am in a first grade class of nineteen students. While performing my duties at in Mrs. J Williams Classroom I became very eager to observe as well as work with a student by the name of Ja’Von W. Ja’Von is a six year old, I recently found out that his mother is on drugs and is being supported by his sixteen year old brother. Many of the students that I have observed in the classroom have had behavior problems and issues with their

When writing, the student does not use appropriate spacing which makes her letter illegible. The student has deviations greater than ½ inch when using scissors to cut large geometric shapes out of construction paper. The student is shy and has difficulty interacting socially with her peers and instructors.

Yanni is a 9th grade student who has difficulty keeping up with classmates of the same age in a developmentally appropriate learning environment. Yanni has extreme difficulty with comprehending what he reads. Since he doesn 't monitor his comprehension when he reads, he doesn 't recognize when he is "getting it" and when he is not. He works at a much slower pace than other students and requires extra time to complete certain tasks; he never forgets to do his homework and has no difficulty with planning. Yanni has a hard time remembering information - memorizing is very difficult for him. This leads to poor recall of facts, as well. Yanni prefers math to ELA. However, he continues to need encouragement in math. He often gets confused in math and cannot communicate his thinking. His basic math facts are not yet in

Special education programs and services are available in many school and are fast growing. In a high school, a principal named Debbie Young has been presented with a situation with the parents of a special education student. Mrs. Young has been a special education teacher and assistant principal in a progressive and affluent school district in the South. Mrs. Young was approached by the parents of Jonathan a severely disabled tenth grader whose parents want him to attend one of the schools in the district. He is profoundly mentally disabled, has spastic quadriplegia, and has a seizure disorder. Mrs. Young refuses his parent’s request because of the huge expenses and the school is not an appropriate place for Jonathan.

One student I observed had severe disabilities. She seems to be very high on the Autism spectrum. She spent most of her time in the other room, but from what I saw she had severe communication difficulties, would repeat words, and would repeat actions like spinning and rocking. She also showed aggressive behaviors, especially when she didn’t want to do something, like read.

Before I met with the student to do counseling sessions, I got a chance to see him, when he got into trouble for stealing supplies from his teacher. He cried and was very quiet, whenever he was asked about why he stole the supplies. I was nerve about doing sessions with him, because I was told that he was not much of an open person and he had a lot of non-verbal

Aaron Williams walked into kindergarten as a five year old, and turned six during the first week. Aaron is dark skin, short dark brown hair, and taller than the average kindergartener. He was one of the two students that did not attend open house, so it wasn't until the first day of school I met him. The first day of school, I remember that he walked in very quiet and shy. I later learned he had not attended pre-school, which meant the first of school was literally his first day. Throughout the days I have noticed that Aaron is very timid. He doesn't participate in brain breaks, he stands in his carpet square as he watches everyone else with his hands in his pockets. Aaron follows all the rules accurately and he is not one who would get in

Knowing that this student present health issues, is a very important point to take in consideration at the time of planning academic instruction. He sits at the front of the class, and usually he needs extra time to complete his task. For this specific subject matter, I break down the assignment in smalls parts for him do not to feel overwhelming. Also, pairing him with a high level focused task student would help to keep his interest in the task and might complete his

We spent a lot of time debriefing his feelings with his dad’s personality. The student was distraught and felt unaccepted by his dad. After sensing that he needed a break from talking about heavy topics, I suggested that we play games and watch some of his favorite videos. This helped him get back to a bubbly state before returning to class. This is a strategy that got him to feel prepared to go back to class without feeling down. This is something I want to continue being sensitive to throughout the semester.

These restrictions are affecting the student in a negative way. When asked, the student says that he would want to go outside for recess but he knows that he can’t. When asked how he spends his weekend, he claims that he “eats food, plays video games, and does homework.” He does not play with friends, go to the park, or do other typical things you might expect a ten year old would do. When the doctor of neurology claimed that the student has narrow interests, it could be because of all the restrictions his family has set on him that cause him to miss out on many opportunities that he is more than willing to be a part of.

He appears to get along well with others and socially engages with his peers in an appropriate manner. Teachers are concerned with his lack of grade-level reading and writing skills as they set him apart from his peers and make it difficult for him to keep up with the pace of the general education class. Teachers are also very concerned with Nate’s inability to focus and stay on-task in the classroom, during large group instruction, small group activities, and independent work time.

The student I focused on this semester does not have an IEP or special services but he does have trouble sitting still and paying attention. He is a very smart when he does pay attention and is always happy, with a positive attitude. To help this student focus more the teacher has him sit towards the front of the rug and sometimes he is given a small shape to have in his hands to prevent him form fidgeting. During the morning meeting sometimes I have to give him a pat on the back, as a quick reminder to keep his eyes on me. He responds well to this and the other students don’t usually even notice. This student struggles with gross motor skills as well, but has great fine motor skills. He excels in cutting and writing his name. He also

This week, the author sat down with a seventh grade special education student to gain insight on how he feels about his learning and overall educational experience. The student’s name is Nate, and he has an Individualized Education Program (IEP) with goals in the areas of reading, writing, math, and behavior, and he has been diagnosed with ADHD. Nate was a new student to the district in August and was adopted within the last year. Since the teacher-student relationship was newly developing, the author staged the interview in a very informal manner. The student and teacher sat across the table from each other and simply chatted back and forth. The author also presented the interview to the student as an opportunity for the teacher to get to know him better since he was new to the district.

Performance has always been a concern of mine, whether it was with school, sports, or even when playing video games. For some reason when I feel that I’m under the pressure of performing, and that’s my performance is going to be “judged” by others, I start to stress.