week 3

• What modifications for learners who are exceptional do you see?

From what I have seen, most of the modifications for the students that do exceptionally well in the class are not major. For example, the students that are doing well are able to move forward with new spelling words on a more regular basis. If they finish reading their book during reading time they are able to go check a new one out from the classroom library. If the student gets 100% on an assignment sometimes local restaurants will have the teacher give them a coupon for a free kids meal or some sort of treat. 

There may be other ways the exceptional student is treated or taught but like I said, from what I have seen they keep it pretty low key. I feel this is a smart way to go because if they treated them that much more different they might make other students feel discouraged or jealous. Because I am only in a second grade class this may be another reason why I don't see huge differences. But, I do remember when I was in middle school they would reward an exceptional student on the schools TV channel and give them a prize. 

Entry 2

• Tell about an opportunity you had to work one on one with a student.

Last week I mentioned a girl in the the class that could not read. This week I was given a short period of time to help her one on one with a few assignments. Many 2nd graders know how to either read pretty well or can sound out words. Lots of the assignments in this 2nd grade class that I go to require quite a bit of reading so, as you can imagine, this little girl can easily get behind with her assignments. 

One of the assignments she had to do was play a game that had to do with her spelling words. she would roll a dice and whatever number she rolled she would follow the prompt that was written on a paper. I had to read each one to her but she would try to sound out the small words. I could tell she was trying so hard and wanted so badly to figure it all out on her own. It made me want to keep helping her more in the future so I can see how much she progresses through out the year.

Entry 1

What developmental differences do you see in the children in the classroom?

I have now completed two weeks in a classroom for second graders. Within those two weeks I have really tried to analyze the children and how they interact in the classroom. I could tell almost instantly which students needed more help, which students caught on quickly and which students were the ones that were just plain shy. With out a doubt, each child was different than the other in the way they went about doing the school work and/or interacting with the teacher.

While there were lots of small differences between the children and their developmental differences, there was a few that stood out more than others. For instance, one of the children could not read so when reading time took place she always had a book that had more pictures than words. Another child had a very hard time focusing, if it was time to write down spelling words and it wasn't silent or if children were walking by, it was all he could do to not watch them.

It has been so fun watching the children interact in their classroom and getting to know their little personalities. I am looking forward to the future weeks.