Case Study Demographics:
LaShaun attends Daytona Elementary school. It is located in the southern United States in a small city. There are about 21,859 people in this area. The makeup of the city is 56.94% White, 38.92% African American, 0.17% Native American, 2.41% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.63% other races. The median income for a household in the city was $23,001. The percentage of families below the poverty level is 22.1%. The school consists of grades Kindergarten through second grade. The school has a total of 352 students in attendance. Each class has between fifteen to twenty-three students in a single classroom. There are 18 teachers and 23 support staff members in the school. The school is located in a safe neighborhood but not all the students that go there live right by the school. A lot of the students come from broken homes and projects and then others come from good neighborhoods like the ones around the school. The school report card for the academic year of 2013-2014 was a D grade, which is lower than the previous year by two letter grades. The 2014-2015 report card is not out and will not be available until after the school year ends. The school has 18% in special education. 74% of the students qualify for free and reduced lunch. The school is located in a good area of the community in the small city.
LaShaun’s classroom is considered an inclusion classroom. There are 15 students in the class, with a regular teacher, special education teacher, and a para-professional at all times. The majority of the students in the class have behavior problems or some sort of learning disability where they need a little extra help. Exceptionalities range from students being classified with an emotional disability to those being within the mild to moderate range of a cognitive disability.
Data Collection:
LaShaun is a nine-year-old African American male in Mrs. Minnie’s second grade class. He wears the same sweatshirt every day. His clothes have stains and look dirty. He wears some of the same clothes every day and they look unwashed. LaShaun did not seem to pay attention in class and was distracted easily. When asked a question, he would just stare at the teacher and when he would answer the question the answer was far from what the topic of the question was. He did not talk in class and when he does talk it is quiet and only to his friends. He had many friends in class and enjoyed playing and being around them. He enjoyed PE and recess and being able to run around and not sitting still. He did not ask for help or seem like he ever wanted help. At the beginning of this year, LaShaun’s reading A-Z level was AA. AA is considered kindergarten level reading. He has progressed some and is now on the first-grade reading level but still has several difficulties when reading. When in pre-kindergarten he was considered to be at-risk because he was not learning and progressing forward. His mom has completed high school with special education services but that was the highest education she had received. She is unemployed. LaShaun lives at home with his mom and six other siblings. He does not get to see or talk to his dad but maybe once a year. In which, he does not have a strong father figure in his life which caused him to not obey authority sometimes.
Strengths:
LaShaun’s social skills seem to be developed well. He has many friends in his class and enjoys playing and talking with them. He is good at artwork and coloring which he seems to enjoy as he appears to pay better attention whenever he colors. At the beginning, he seemed like he was self-motivated but it varies according to the day. In which, self-motivation could also be a support need and an at-risk factor because it varied tremendously from day to day. Even though LaShaun does not have many learning skills, he did show improvement in his vocabulary since first being observed.
Support needs:
LaShaun would need support with paying attention and staying on task. He seems to understand some of the material but he does have trouble staying focused so if he had someone one on one with him keeping him focused. He also has difficulty reading out loud in front of a group. LaShaun would retain more information if he was being taught one-on-one, but that cannot always be the case in some situations so just giving him extra help and little bit of extra support throughout the lesson would hopefully help him stay on task and retain the knowledge better. LaShaun needs someone to be there for him where he can talk about the problems he may face at home. He needs to know someone cares about him and his success in school.
At-Risk Factors:
LaShaun is still on a first-grade reading level at this point in the school year, which is progress from the beginning of the school year. He is at-risk though because he is struggling in learning words that he should know well by now. He is at-risk for being a full year behind when he is promoted to third grade. Since he does not speak in class he is falling behind with communication skills. He did not seem to be able to comprehend the material when a story was read to him. The teacher would ask him a question and his answer would be off topic from what the story was actually about. He needs structure and one-on-one teaching so he will pay attention and retain the lesson. He also could use extra help on reading skills and create games to help him be able to enjoy reading and show him that it can be fun.
Data Analysis:
The first day of observation, LaShaun showed low skills in reading and communication in the classroom. He did not talk at all and did not seem to be paying attention to the teacher either. They split into stations and at his first station the teacher gave him grade level one vocabulary word flashcards and he reviewed them quietly by himself. LaShaun seemed self-motivated for the time being and as time went he began to get disinterested in the vocabulary. The self-motivation was noticed when the teacher would show the cards to him he was able to recognize and recite some of the words that he had just reviewed. In the next two observations, they did class discussion instead of groups. During class discussion he would never raise his hand to answer; he just sat there and played with different items on his desk. It is obvious that large groups do not work well for him even though it is a small class of just 15 students; it is too big for him. When corrected and asked to do the right thing, he would just stare and then do the opposite of what was asked of him. Several times on different days when observed, he had to be told to look at his own paper and not look off neighboring students. On another day, LaShaun was observed in PE and he seemed to be enjoying it. He played well with his classmates and got along with everyone while they were playing. He did have to be redirected to the game they were playing because he zoned out and got off track sometimes. As observation continued, it was obvious LaShaun’s self-motivation had decreased greatly. He was always last to finish his work because he did not want to do it himself. When the teacher was at the front of the class lecturing LaShaun completely zoned out and acted like he does not care about what she has to say. It was observed that when the teacher is reading in stations and he does not have a book in his hands he does not pay attention and does not comprehend what is being read out loud to him. Having a book in his hand would help him stay focused and maybe help him retain the information he is reading if he can visually see the words that are being read out loud. On the final observation, the class was working in their groups and LaShaun’s group was reading a chapter in a Magic Tree House book. Students did not have a book of their own so LaShaun was disinterested in the novel. It was evident that he was not retaining the knowledge that the teacher was reading. When the teacher asked him a question, he either did not answer the question or his answer would be completely unrelated to the topic of the question. During the times observed, there were many times the teacher had to continuously get onto the student and discipline him by taking away recess and he even had his field trip taken away and he was not able to attend with his class because of behavior. He had to change his card color every day because he would continuously distract other students or he would not pay attention to the teacher. LaShaun went to detention several times as well because he had continuous behavior problems.
Summary of Report:
LaShaun appears to be struggling with quite a few different problems. He is a grade level behind in his reading skills. His attention span seems hard to keep track of. LaShaun also seems to be having some behavioral issues as well. The information provided in the data collection states Lashaun is on a first-grade reading level and he is currently in second grade. It also says he loses interest when he is not constantly engaged or being facilitated in a hands-on activity. Then upon losing interest in his school work he starts to misbehave or act out.
Lashaun has several factors that could be contributing to his situation. His environment is not the best situation. He also does not have the ideal family situation. Based on the data collection, LaShaun comes to school dirty and wearing the same clothes every day. LaShaun also comes from a home with many other siblings and a single, unemployed mother. There is basically no father figure in the home as well.
LaShaun also has trouble with interactions with his peers. He appears not to know how to express himself so he stays silent in most situations. He doesn’t know how to ask for help and he doesn’t want it.
LaShaun’s need for hands- on and physically engaging activities is very evident. You can clearly see this because he enjoys physical education. LaShaun also enjoys artwork, which furthers the proof that he likes hands-on activities. His attention is also kept better when the material is able to be held by him and when material is in color.
Plan for Improvement:
LaShaun I feel would benefit from a few different strategies that his teacher could implement regularly. One strategy that could be implemented is giving LaShaun printed materials before the next lesson. This way he has time to look over it before class and have someone discuss it with him. This way he can get some one-on-one help. It also gives him the opportunity to process the information and formulate his questions to ask in class. This way he doesn’t have to try to process the information and think of questions at the same time. Sometimes when a lot of information is presented at one time it can overwhelm the student and they would have so many questions they didn’t know where to start. Then ultimately that would lead to them not asking the question at all.
Another strategy that I found online that I feel would benefit LaShaun would be the teacher utilizing different types of methods to help him learn. These different methods include auditory, visual, and kinesthetic. I feel that utilizing these different methods would help keep LaShaun focused. Utilizing these different methods could also possibly peak LaShaun’s interest in the subject matter. LaShaun seems to work better with kinesthetic and visual rather than auditory. This is evident because LaShaun does well with reading when he is looking at a physical copy of the material rather than just letting the teacher read aloud to him. In the demographics section its says he does well in PE. We all know that PE includes a lot of motion. If we bridge the connection between all the motion that physical education includes and establish a learning style in the classroom that gets the students moving, this might also help LaShaun excel in school.
A third strategy that I feel would have benefited LaShaun was building a communication style that works for solely for him and the teacher. I think that LaShaun and the teacher could come up with verbal and physical communication cues that are discreet but also suitable for keeping LaShaun on task. These cues should be discreet so that Lashaun isn’t embarrassed and completely shuts down when the teacher redirects him. I think by the teacher only utilizing that communication signal with LaShaun, it will help LaShaun with building personal connections and also show some affection that he may not be getting at home. He needs those moments of personal connections so that he can model that behavior with his peers. I’m not insinuating that LaShaun is unloved, but the demographics says he barely sees his father and he is being parented by a single, unemployed mother with six other children. So, I’m sure LaShaun could benefit from some extra attention.
I also discovered another strategy online that I feel LaShaun would benefit from. Lashaun would need to have a work-in-progress check-in. This is a portion during instruction in which the teacher would take time to probe into LaShaun’s level of understanding about the subject matter. LaShaun apparently does well with one-on-one attention. This also would allow the teacher to prevent LaShaun from shutting down. It also allows LaShaun the opportunity to ask his questions without the anxiety of having to ask in front of everyone. (www.smartkidswithld.org)
LaShaun could also benefit from some one-on-one counseling. He might need to discuss his home life. He may also feel comfortable talking to someone about his trouble at school as well. Counseling could also release some of his possible stress and cause LaShaun to be more comfortable in the classroom. A counselor could also help LaShaun get motivated and build his self-confidence. (www.understood.org)
LaShaun could also benefit from the teacher doing more group projects. In the demographics portion of the paper it stated that he did well in small groups. Also, kinesthetic learners usually excel in groups in which the learners get to move around. Having some type of learning centers in the class in which small groups of students get together and move to different stations exploring the skill that was taught in class would be most beneficial to LaShaun. LaShaun would also benefit from having a peer tutor. One reason for this is that it is easier to learn from a friend rather than an authority figure. Another reason is this would help LaShaun develop his social skills. The final reason for this would be that this gives more one-on-one time for him to learn more. (www.helpguide.org)
Accommodations/Modifications:
There are a few accommodations and modifications that I most definitely feel LaShaun can benefit from. One accommodation I feel LaShaun could benefit from is having his seat assigned and allowing him to place the chair where he sees fit within the classroom. This will give LaShaun a sense of power within his learning environment. It could also give LaShaun a sense of routine in the classroom. The phrase familiarity breeds fondness works in this situation because that set routine allows Lashaun to know what he expects and is expected of him in class. Setting classroom rules and policies also adds depth to the establishment of a routine. Reducing the number of distractions within the classroom would also help LaShaun. LaShaun has moments when he appears to get disinterested in learning and gets distracted. Ways to narrow the amount of distractions goes back to having great classroom rules and policies, seating arrangements, and it also plays into how the teacher is able to captivate the minds of the students. The rules would allow the teacher to keep control and a certain sound level in the class. The rules and policies also would aid in creating a learning environment that would allow LaShaun to feel comfortable speaking in class and asking questions when he doesn’t understand something. The seating arrangement would keep LaShaun away from windows and doors and near the teacher. He wouldn’t have any place to divert his attention to and if he did being near the teacher would allow the teacher the opportunity to redirect his attention without having to cause attention to the redirection and without utilizing much class time for that one issue. Another accommodation that I feel LaShaun could use is having a copy of the slideshow or presentation that the teacher is utilizing in his hands. Lashaun appeared to be more attentive when he had tangible items in his hands. This is a situation I can truly understand because being motionless and just silently listen can make anyone get inattentive. So, by having the information in hand LaShaun can keep himself focused on the information by highlighting and making notes as the teacher speaks. A modification I would utilize for LaShaun would be instead of reading to him he could watch video presentations that are somewhat less “dry” than a straight forward lecture from a teacher for an hour. Another modification I would utilize or implement to help LaShaun would be to shorten his work-load. The shorter the assignment the less time he would have to get distracted.
Reflection:
I learned quite a few different things about the way students learn. One thing I learned from this was not to place students all in one “basket”. I see that students are on various different levels of learning. Sometimes you have to teach for build-up. When I say that I mean you have to go back and review skills and then build on them. Then you catch everyone at their various levels and take them all to the same achievement level at the end. My aunt, who is a teacher, always tells me to remember the “train track” method when I become a teacher. I now truly have an understanding of what she really meant by that. She says start your train at the beginning of the tracks and as you progress, you can pick up your passengers at their different locations and you all can finish at the same destination. This means when you start a unit, start at the very basics then progress and pick up the students at the level of their understanding and progress them forward until everyone reaches the same destination.
This case study also taught me many things about myself. One thing in particular that I learned about myself was that when working with students I need to notice their weaknesses but build more on their strengths. Commonly teachers try to turn student’s weaknesses into strengths which I completely understand because I do that. Now I realize that this can do more harm than good when working with students. It takes them out of their comfort zone and may cause them to shut down instead of excelling. It would be much more logical to capitalize on their strengths because their comfortable with the things they’re strong at. If you are comfortable doing something, you will be willing to improve on topics that surround that. For example, LaShaun is comfortable with sports and hands on activities and that is where he excels.
I definitely gained knowledge that I will take into my future classroom from this experience. I feel as though there are a significant few things here to be picked up. One is that I should note that all my students have different backgrounds. I also realized that I should be attentive to the way I teach my students. I also learned that I should be attentive to the way I arrange my classroom. Another thing I gained from this was that routine can play heavily into how a child behaves and feels about class.