“…These fall more
under the purview of the resource teacher. My focus is on the content material
as I am a secondary teacher.”[1]
Whose responsibility is it when a Senior Years student is unable to comprehend
the material presented in his or her content area courses? Upon reaching
Secondary School, there is a more predominant release of responsibility onto
our students. More often than not, they are expected to take appropriate notes,
read/watch assigned material in preparation for class, study independently and
ask for help is they believe they need it. What happens, however, if our
students are unable to comprehend the material they need in order to be
successful? I argue that it is our responsibility as classroom teachers to
ensure that each of our students has every opportunity to be successful in our
classrooms, regardless of their age or grade level. I focus on a first-hand
interview I conducted with a Senior Years teacher in rural Manitoba
Background
Information
The
teacher I chose to interview has approximately ten years teaching experience
through various locations within Manitoba as
well as abroad in Egypt , China and India
Upon beginning
this interview, I asked her to, “Try to think of a specific student who has
experienced difficulties with reading in one of your content area classes,”
before she began answering the questions. The purpose of this prompt was to
ensure that she was specifically referencing a student from a content area
class as well as referencing the same student throughout the various questions.
As per divisional policies, she was unable to identify the student in regards
to age, grade, IEP plans or diagnosed disability, if any. Resultantly, the
interview responses paint a general image of a struggling student and, where
appropriate, I will state if information is explicit or inferred.
Interview
Summary
The
teacher in question was able to address several different strategies that were
implemented to assist the student in finding success within her content area
course. These included note-taking frameworks that identified how many main
points should be found within a certain piece of text, providing copies of
notes at a reading level appropriate for the student, and providing alternative
text options. The student was also assigned an Educational Assistant (E.A) to
work one-on-one with, had the opportunity to work with the teacher at lunch
hour, and was allocated additional time to complete coursework. In addition to
these strategies, the student was also provided with in-depth assessment
outlines prior to assessment activities and was assessed using alternative
testing materials that focused on basic comprehension and objective
questioning. While these strategies were implemented under the direction of the
teacher, they fell under a plan involving the school’s resource teacher and
E.A. From the information that has been provided through this interview, I can
infer that this specific student experienced difficulties in reading due to a
pre-existing learning difficulty or disability. From the strategies that were
put in place, specifically alternative assessment strategies and E.A support,
it is my guess that the student had an IEP in place that warranted an adapted
or even modified program.
When
asked about the successfulness of the strategies, the teacher shared that the
student did experience success in regards to comprehension of the material but
still struggled with memory retention. As such, formal assessment strategies
were difficult and she or the E.A completed most assessment through informal
observation. Looking back on the situation, she shared that she would have
liked to have oral readings of different texts available for the student so
they could learn through a media that was more appropriate for their needs.
This led me to question if the school division had text-to-audio software
available for students to use like “Kurzweil” or “SpeakComputer” that are
available in other divisions in the province. While the teacher did not know if
they had those specific programs, she did share that each classroom had access
to computer labs, laptops and iPads that all feature various literacy programs
to assist students in various courses. What was bothersome to me, however, was
when she stated,
There
are a number of online computer software programs to assist in literacy
but these fall more under the purview of the resource teacher. My focus is on
the content material as I am a secondary teacher… the curriculum load for a
but these fall more under the purview of the resource teacher. My focus is on
the content material as I am a secondary teacher… the curriculum load for a
secondary
teacher means that I rely more on the Resource Coordinator to
bring these other options to my attention.[2]
bring these other options to my attention.[2]
Personally, my focus is on the students
first and the curriculum/content second. I am sure that the teacher did not
mean her statement to be implied that she does not care for the needs of her
students but I found it interesting. Whose responsibility is it when a Senior
Years student is unable to comprehend the material presented in his or her
content area courses? Now obviously, when addressing the needs of a student on
an IEP there may be a full team that is responsible for that student including:
classroom teachers, E.As, resource teachers, appropriate specialists, et
cetera. In my philosophy, however, the classroom teacher is still primarily
responsible for the success of the students in their classroom; this includes
educating themselves on various technologies to assist students in the most
appropriate way possible.
When
I asked the teacher if she felt confident utilizing available technology, she
shared that she is more comfortable with general technology such as computers,
interactive whiteboards like SMART Boards and presentation tools like Prezi.
Her reasons for incorporating technology like this included the ease of having
electronic copies of documents for students, the alternative method of
presenting information and the higher engagement level that comes from using
technology in the classroom. I can assume that since she relies more on the
resource teacher to implement specialized literacy technology that it makes
sense that she is not familiar with those types of programs. This lead me to
wonder how many students could actually be in specific need of these programs.
The teacher I interviewed shared that, on average, there are about four or five
students in a Senior Years grade of twenty-five students who are below reading
level; this works out to approximately one-fifth of the students in Grades 9
through 12.
Reaction
& Recommendations
One
major concern I have when formulating an appropriate reaction to this interview
is the amount of information I, as someone outside of division, have access to.
I feel as though I need to know more about the specific student before making
an appropriate judgement on the situation. As such, I feel as though my
responses need to be more general lest they lead to misunderstanding about the
student in question. With this in mind, the recommendations included are my
personal thoughts on how I may help any student who is struggling in one of my
courses, rather than trying to create recommendations for a specific student
that I do not have adequate information on.
In
regards to technology, I would ensure that I am fully educated on what is
available to me within my school or division and take appropriate training
sessions to learn the software if needed. For example, following my interview I
consulted with the school’s resource teacher via telephone and learned that the
school does not have access to any formal text-to-audio software. I was able to
find, however, many free tools online that allow teachers to manual input text
to be converted to audio. Some examples include, “vozMe”, “TTS Converter” and
“Text To Speech”. For reference, the literacy programs the school has in place
currently include the Precision Reading program that address fluency, the
Momentum Guided Reading program and the Essential Skills Software program which
addresses comprehension through activities designed for multiple intelligences.
After meeting my students and fully understanding their needs, I would also
research what is available to address their specific situations and try to find
online tools, apps and supplementary programs.
I
believe that the teacher’s attitude towards building literacy skills was a
restriction in regards to the student’s overall success. Perhaps if she was
more aware of various programs that were available to her, she may have been
able to provide different instruction for the student. I understand, however,
that it is hard to make speculations when I am unaware of the student’s
specific situation. I think that it can be hard for a teacher to work
specifically on literacy skills when they are responsible for differentiating
instruction, creating experiential learning opportunities, incorporating new
technologies, and attempting to address curriculum goals effectively. I believe
that understanding our students is our main priority and planning with their
needs in mind from day one can help alleviate some of the workload that can
occur when teachers need to go back and change plans once they realize
something is not working.
Strategies
I Would Implement
Some
strategies that I have learned in this class that I think would be appropriate
and beneficial in this situation include the incorporation of a multimedia
environment, portfolio assessments, and exploratory writing through blogging. A
multimedia environment involves incorporating a variety of mediums in which to
present material to students including text, audio, video, images,
manipulatives, et cetera. Not only does this provide an opportunity to meet the
multiple intelligences of our students but it can also be an engaging activity
for students who may be tiring of traditional learning experiences.
Furthermore, by presenting information through multiple platforms students are
able to make connections on the meaning of the information more easily. For
example, if a student has difficulty with comprehending textual information on
the War of 1812 he/she may learn content-related vocabulary through text and
comprehend how it occurred in real-life through a video. In this manner,
students are able to learn the material of a content area course through an
appropriate medium despite having difficulty with literacy skills. Personally,
I believe that schools rely too much on written text to learn material and
should be providing these multimedia learning opportunities for all students.
I
believe that portfolio assessment is an authentic form of assessment that
allows students to display their understanding in a manner that best represents
their learning style and it is something that I will definitely be
incorporating in my future classroom(s). When I was out student teaching I had
a student who scored a 47% on a written Canadian History exam and, knowing that
she knew more about the subject, I offered her a verbal exam. Through her
explanations of her understanding of the material, she was able to boost her
score up to a more appropriate 74%. This situation helped me to realize that
students need to provided opportunities to display their understanding in a
manner that best suits them and I think portfolio assessments fits this. The
way I envision utilizing this form of assessment involves open discussion of
curriculum outcomes in a manner appropriate for the student’s level, student
choice in exploratory projects and reflection work. I recently attended a PD
session on Digital Storytelling and I think it would be so cool if a student
were able to display their various projects through images or film and then
create an audio voiceover to explain what they learned through that project. In
this manner, students could choose to display essays, posters, interviews,
dioramas, et cetera, based on their learning style and the audio voiceover
would count as their reflection. This type of activity would be done at the end
of each unit and would be used as a form of summative assessment.
I
blog regularly about my learning process as an education student and have found
it to be incredibly helpful in regards to furthering my understanding on a
variety of topics. As such, I would love to have my students participate in
blogging as well. Not only can it serve as a host for students to write any
number of literary forms but it provides an authentic audience for their work.
Some of my most influential learning opportunities have come from comments left
on my blog and the resulting conversations and I would like my students to
experience this as well. Not only would they be able to write in a form that
best suits their needs but they could extend their learning through the
resulting comments that their post may receive. Obviously, this may require a
bit of work to implement in regards to building an appropriate network for a
classroom blog but if a teacher has a strong and support PLN in place already,
it can be easier than you think.
In
summary, I believe that it is our responsibility as classroom teachers to
ensure that each of our students has every opportunity to be successful in our
classrooms, regardless of their age or grade level. Yes, there may be times
when it is necessary and appropriate for students to be working with an E.A or
under the direction of a resource teacher, but we still need to ensure that we
are doing as much as we can to assist our student’s in being successful. There
are several ways in which teacher’s can differentiate their instruction in
order to meet the needs of their students and it is our responsibility to
educate ourselves on these strategies.
Resources Mentioned (In Chronological Order)
vozMe (text-to-audio online tool)
TTS Converter (text-to-audio online tool)
Text to Speech (text-to-audio online tool)
Precision Reading Fluency Program
Momentum Guided Reading
Essential Skills Software Program
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thank you for commenting!