2.5: Differentiation:
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Artifact
Unstructured SWD Field Experience: Reading & Writing Assistance for Henry Reflection Henry, a rising 1st grader already identified as a candidate for special education services, was placed on Tier 3 of the Response to Intervention (RTI) process (National Center for Learning Disabilities, n.d.) at the end of his kindergarten year. His difficulties with reading and writing were noted by his teachers early in kindergarten, and he has since been diagnosed with an unspecified disability with writing. His mother expressed interest in exploring whether he may also struggle with Attention Deficit Disorder but stressed that his enjoyment of computer time and ability to focus on the screen has convinced her to focus first on his reading and writing. For this field experience, I met with his mother to discuss her concerns, then met with him to discuss his perspective an interests. Based on the interviews, I designed and implemented a mini-unit plan and lesson plans for working with Henry on his reading engagement and writing skill development. The content for Henry’s lesson was developed and organized to befit his particular interests and needs. During our initial interview, Henry discussed how much he enjoyed several cartoon characters such as Scooby Doo and Henry Hugglemonster. This insight into his enjoyment of silly and colorful fictional characters informed my method of approaching the book study and writing plan in our lessons. For his age and ability level, I decided to introduce the lessons to him with short children’s books and to work within those books’ context for the writing portion of the lessons. During the first lesson, for example, we read 4 Pups and a Worm, a children’s book with a fun rhyme scheme. The choice of a rhyming book was deliberate – research indicates that young readers use patterns like rhyme to develop their fluency (Dickinson & Neuman, 2006). After learning and discussing words by using their rhyme patterns, Henry constructed a poem using those words. He then used Blabberize.com to record his poem for presentation to his mom. Likewise for Henry, the process by which he would practice reading and writing was differentiated. Because Henry is engaged by computers but has difficulty with reading and writing, he does not type well. Many of the web tools I would have used with more advanced or differently-abled students were inappropriate to his needs. Even his use of the Construct-a-Word tool, designed for his age group and younger, required significant assistance; still, he did not falter in attention and enjoyed the fun content and silly pay-off. In the original design based on technology-enhanced and reading-contextualized lessons, Henry was projected to produce two products: two original writing pieces that demonstrated developing mastery of language explored during readings. The first, the original rhyming poem based on words learned from 4 Pups and a Worm, was a success. Henry was creative and effective at meeting the goals, though he required significant assistance and extra time. By the end of the second session, Henry should have written and published a new story based on that day’s reading. Instead, he was able to produce a short crossword puzzle with self-defined words in it, a task originally meant as scaffolding for the published story. Henry’s learning environment was naturally comfortable for him. We met in his home and worked at his kitchen table. Notable, however, is that despite his mother’s concern for his attention span, Henry had little difficulty paying attention and remaining motivated during our sessions. He mother confirmed that the same is true when his teachers work one-on-one with him: he does well while teachers help him but does not maintain that energy to success when teachers are not hovering. I have much experience playing with children, but I have little experience teaching them curriculum – my training is in Secondary Education. Through this field experience, I learned to appreciate the vast amount of knowledge and skill students develop or struggle to develop before they enter my high school classroom. Difficulties like those faced by Henry every day at school can compound to an immense struggle by 9th grade. Going into the lessons with Henry, I had made plans that required skills that seem natural at the high school level but are often a point of frustration at the elementary level. This experience, then, deepened my perspective and highlighted the necessity of a mind open to differentiate based on student needs. The work that went into this artifact hinged upon student engagement and practice with contextualized content. Despite his slow pace and struggle with some of the directions, Henry remained focused throughout the sessions and reported enjoyment of the activities. This mini-unit plan can easily be manipulated to incorporate any texts and befit the needs of any young learners. The impact on their learning can be assessed using the two products: the original poem text and Blabberize.com recording and the new Pimpamum.net storybook. References Dickinson, D.K. & Neuman, S.B. (2006). Handbook of early literacy research: Volume 2. New York: The Guilford Press. National Center for Learning Disabilities. (n.d.). What is RTI? Retrieved June 20, 2015, from http://www.rtinetwork.org/learn/what/whatisrti |