Beth Melillo: Memo #3

Observations:

• My Intensive Resource students struggle more in English Language Arts class when it is scheduled at the end of the day.  (Intensive Resource is a special education program.)
• Many of these students use avoidance behaviors rather than working.
• The avoidance behaviors are worse when students are being assessed.
• The instructional schedule for our team does not consider this population of students or their learning.

Questions:

• How can I engage my students more to avoid their off task behaviors?
• What types of learning activities will engage my students at the end of the day?
• Although some students need to leave early to organize at the end of the day, how do I keep the other students engaged?  
• Why would the school assign a schedule like this to my team knowing our student population?

Teacher Research Journal:

Journal Entry #1:  (September 16) ELA sixth period, 1:30-2:30 p.m.

It was a usual day today.  Catching up seems to be necessary at this time.  In the past few weeks, class time has been interrupted by an assembly for students regarding acceptable behavior, NWEA testing, a team meeting, and picture day.  Those valuable minutes seem to tick away with no time to recapture them.

Another obstacle is that my Intensive Resource students struggle to understand what I say or what they need to do.  Many of them have extremely slow processing speeds and can’t handle doing things a regular pace.  I’m not sure how I can combat this.  However, I think a schedule in which I instruct them last period doesn’t work.  I lose more time every day I have them in class last period.  If this continues, I may mention the schedule to the principal for next year.

Today my students spent the entire class period taking the GRADE which is a reading assessment.  They were working on the last part of the test, listening comprehension.  Since I could only read the sentence twice, many students struggle to understand the sentence I’d read and to keep up.  This assessment is to help me better understand my students as readers.  It is not on grade level either.

Many of those children are not focused, and it’s the last class period.  Students would rather go to the bathroom, take a break, or get a drink than work.  I know it is avoidance behavior, yet they shut down if I say no too.  I’m not sure what works best with them at this point.  We can’t continue to have these disruptions on regular basis.

Additionally, there are students with IEPs that leave five minutes early.  They start packing up ten minutes early.  Now the other kids don’t want to work.  They don’t understand why they still have to work.

Struggles:  testing, avoidance behaviors, time of class

Bright Spots:  changes for next year, on task behavior at the beginning of class

 

Journal Entry #2:  (September 17) ELA sixth period, 1:30-2:30 p.m.

It was another good day.  However, having my Intensive Resource students last period is terribly difficulty.  They are really struggling to pay attention.  Of course, I had a reading test to finish and a writing assessment to give.  We can’t just stop instructing.  I’m really beginning to believe that students with special needs of this magnitude should have core subjects in the morning hours.

After the passage comprehension section of the GRADE which only had three short passages and some questions, my students didn’t want to do anything else.  Some of them were unable to finish the passage comprehension.  Also, these students didn’t have any interest in working on a writing assessment.  A considerable number of students wanted to go to the bathroom, to get a drink, or to lie across their desks like they were sleeping.  Due to IEP’s, some students were taken out of the class to work in a small group.  There are some students who worked, but the others didn’t want to focus and were at times disruptive.  

Most of the on task behavior in this class occurred at the beginning of the class when we finished a close reading of an article and worked on restating the question and responding to the questions for the article.  After 2p.m., many of my students were watching the clock and had checked out for the day.  Unfortunately, this is going to be a problem all year.

Struggles:  avoidance behavior, assessment, time of class

Bright Spots:  engagement in questions for article, participation

Journal Entry #3: (September 18) ELA second period, 9:05-10:05 a.m.

Today the Intensive Resource students were incredibly productive.  They were willing to work and on task.  I was able to give the MAZE, close reading test, and have them finish their writing assessments. Some of the students were even able to logon to RazKids and start the Reading A-Z test.  It was incredible.

Although some of the students were still off task, the majority were working.  I really think the time of day is impacting these students.  They appear to be better able to stay on task earlier in the day as opposed to later in the day.  I wonder if this is happening in all their content area subjects.

I redirected students far less today, and they were engaged.  It would be great if I could change the schedule, but the entire school is following it due to electives, physical education, and health.

I also realize there is a lot of testing at this time of the year.  The MAZE is mandated by the district and has a short window of time.  In the future, I may try to stagger the other testing more.

Struggles:  minor behavioral issues

Bright Spots:  engaged, willing to work