Module 2 - Learning to Work With Your Students

     This week's assigned reading was chapters four, five, and six.  These chapters covered learner differences and learning needs, language development, language diversity, and immigrant education, and culture and diversity.  While reading there were three topics that stuck out to me, either from personal experiences or through working as a paraprofessional for the last six years.  The three topics that stuck out to me were students with hyperactivity and attention disorders (p. 149), when and how does language develop (p. 179), and lessons for teachers: teaching every student(p. 253).

     According to Woolfolk (2019), there were no "hyperactive children" 50 to 60 years ago and now about 11% of children are diagnosed with ADHD in the United States and about 5%-7% around the world.  I know several people who are diagnosed with ADHD, some have been on medications for years to help them cope, function, and handle this diagnosis.  I have also worked with students with ADHD and even ADD, it is a learning experience to work with these type of students and you must have patience, especially if the student/person is not medicated properly.  Last year, I helped work with a student that was not medicated and he was always fidgeting and/or standing and standing around.  With this particular student, I would have to remind him to concentrate on his work and once it was completed we could take a walk so he could expel some of his energy.  This past school year, I was helping with a student with ADHD/ADD but not properly medicated.  This particular student would go through phases, some days he would come in and be super focused and be able to work with no problem.  There were other days he would come in and be all over the place because he could not focus because he was very fidgety and had to be moving constantly.  He also had days that he would come in and he would just stare off into space and I or the teacher would have to be in close proximity to make sure he was on task because he was daydreaming.  Teaching students with ADHD and/or ADD, you have to learn your students and know what works and what does not work for them.  With being in the classroom now for six years it has given me many opportunities to learn different techniques for students with ADHD and/or ADD.

     Another topic that caught my eye was when and how does language develop.  Woolfolk(2019) explains that children between the ages of 2 and 3 can use about 450 words even though they can understand many more.  Then, by the age of 6, children's expressive vocabulary will grow to about 2,600 words, and their receptive vocabulary will be an impressive 20,000-plus words (Otto,2010).   Last year, I had a student who had only been hearing for about a year.  The summer of him going into first grade he had tubes put into his ears which allowed him to hear.  So, last year in 2nd-grade he had only been hearing for a year and he struggled with many things.  This little boy struggled with spelling because he struggled with certain sounds because of this he had a modified spelling list.   When giving his spelling test whoever was reading the words would have to be right next to him so he could clearly hear the word being said.  His reading level was also lower than it should have been.  He was being pulled out of the classroom by a reading specialist to help him with reading.  He also was pulled out for speech because he stuttered when he talked, so they worked on getting him to be more confident with his words.  Another student that I worked with as a one-on-one last year struggled with speech, he would skip the more or less the first letter/consonant.  For example, if he was were to say 'home' it would sound like he's saying "ome".  He understood everything we would say to him so we did not have that barrier, it took some time but we were eventually able to better understand what he was trying to tell us as the year went on.  These are more lessons that I will be able to bring into my classroom when I become a teacher.

     Which brings me to my next topic of lessons for teachers: teaching every student.  In order to properly teach your students, you must know yourself, know your students, and respect your students.  Like the one video we had to watch, the white female teacher said that she learned that to some of her students she would have to tell them to sit down instead of asking them to sit down.  You must know what your student(s) will respond to.  This is something that I have learned about being in the classroom for six years.  This past school year, I was subbing in a classroom half day, and I knew there was a student who could be a little stinker some times.  While the students were having recess indoors she was trying to pull a fast one on me and another student called her out and she did not like that very much and she started calling him names.  I sternly said her name and told her to sit in a chair on the other side of the room.  I let a couple minutes go by to let her cool off and then I called her over to me and had a calm conversation with her.  After having this calm conversation about her actions, we had mutual respect for one another and she never caused trouble for me again.  Knowing and understanding my students will be key once I get my own classroom.

     With working in a diverse public school, you never know what will walk through our classroom door and we always have to be ready for anything.  These three topics will help me in being able to handle many different situations.

Woolfolk, Anita. Educational Psychology. 14th ed., Pearson, 2019.