Interactions with Diversity

I had a few interesting experiences. For the Core History class a Paraprofessional is in the classroom to help keep students on task and to talk to for help on assignments and notes. One day she was absent and the substitute was very interesting to talk to. He talked about the current and recent politics since one of the discussion topics of the day was the political primaries and caucuses. When one student supposedly hit his head the Para escorted him to the nurse and when they came back he told me that the student was interested in finding out about the Para because they were both the same race and the student was intrigued by the Para and asked about his personal life while they were traveling to and from the nurse's office. I will admit he did not look like a "typical" teacher. He had gold teeth and was rather short. He told me he is a hip-hop DJ in his spare time, and it looked like he would fit the part. I also understood why the student was so interested in talking with the Para and the Para said it happens a lot because he knows he doesn't fit the typical teacher "mold."

During some computer lab time later in the week I was assigned by the Para to help a specific student because he was farther behind on an assignment than the majority of the others. I've noticed during class that he does not take notes very often even though he sits in the front row. The Core History class was assigned to write a paragraph explaining why the Americans won the Revolutionary War. While I was helping him I noticed that he had a difficult time turning audible directions and hints into written words. When I asked him what his reasons were he responded with what he had written down before. But when I helped him explain why those reasons helped the Americans, he would say an adequate answer but would not write down what he said without a prompt. This happened for all the details he was writing for the paragraph. I noticed this and tried something different for the final sentence. I told him that he final sentence should be similar to the topic sentence. He looked at the topic sentence then told me what the topic sentence was, and i told him to write it again but in a slightly different way. Then he mumbled to himself and got into a writing position and had his hand and pencil where he would need to write the final sentence down, but he froze. This was similar to the other sentences that he had written, so I told him not to worry and just write down a sentence stating the main reasons the Americans won the Revolutionary War and then I would look at it. He finally wrote on his own without me helping him focus on the sentence. It was very close, and he stated a reason that he didn't use and left out a reason he did use. I pointed this out to him, and he started to revise his own work instead of me doing the word smithing.

This, along with how the Core History class has been overall has helped me realize how students learn differently. I wouldn't change anything with my interaction with the specific student because I was able to see his difficulty with writing. He loses focus very rapidly, sometimes seconds after hearing a direction or suggestion. Students with this difficulty will be a problem in my content area, because history and government are topics that require a focus on not only the specific issue or topic but how that issue or topic relates to other issues or topics because history and government often build from the past and future events are based on or changed by those past events.

Working with the student I felt slightly frustrated because after the first detail he still needed to be reminded to write down what he had just told me. I didn't let this show and I took it in as a specific difficulty he had and it also helped me understand that other students had difficulties that made class difficult for them. Looking at it now I know I shouldn't feel frustrated with a student. They are trying to learn (or at least remember the answers for the test) the subject and
look to me (or the teacher) for help.

When I look at the Core History classes I am able to teach and observe students that are several reading levels below their current grade level (10th and 11th graders at approximately a 4th grade reading level). Using a discussion lesson is not very effective because they cannot formulate critical thinking responses like the other classes can. This is rather difficult for me because I believe that critical thinking is where true learning is. Who fought in the Revolutionary War and when it was fought isn't as important to me as why the war was fought. Sure, the class knew that the Americans were fighting for freedom from England, but they couldn't create an answer for a question about why freedom was important and what it meant to be free. Compare this to the Sociology and Government classes, the Sociology and Government classes could interpret and analyze the Constitution and generate and defend reasons why certain actions were or were not Constitutional in certain landmark Supreme Court cases. It is interesting to see that all the classes can learn from a lecture format, but Core History needs repetition and guidance to retain the information. I find the teacher I am observing saying information several times and asking students at the end of the class about certain key points that she wants the students to remember. Compared to the Sociology and Government classes, she only says the information once and moves into a discussion or activity that requires critical thinking of the information just presented.

I've learned that not just student to student, but even in general class to class the students can learn and complete different tasks differently. The Core History classes need more guidance and repetition of information to retain information and create answers to questions while the Sociology and Government classes can receive information and critically think about it in a matter of seconds. This will be very valuable to know in the future.