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Today was my first day in Mrs. Abel's fifth grade class at Fishback Creek Public Academy in Pike Township. I worked with a reading group of four students. My group consisted of Kai, Olivia, Save, and Scarlett. Mrs. Abel indicated to me that these students need additional work time.
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After working with the students, I noticed that Kai was struggling with comprehension and needed extra time to fully understand the book's contents. Mrs. Abel told me that Kai had an IEP and that she also has a group of ENL learners.
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While Mrs. Abel read the class a story, I noticed that Kai struggled sitting still without getting distracted by his classmates. He was receptive to me when he knew I was watching. For the most part, I feel like Kai knows the right thing to do and aims to please those in authority.
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Observing Kai's behavior reinforced that he is eager to answer questions, but his answers are often not correct. I can tell that Kai wants to learn and do his best. Kai does not demonstrate a lack of effort.
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Today the students were in the library. This gave me a chance to talk to Mrs. Abel about Kai and her ENL students. She told me that Kai often gives up on his work and asks for help prematurely. She said that she is working with him to take additional time to think about assignments without giving up on them. Mrs. Abel also said that she believes that some of her other students should be identified with an IEP.
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Kai sits at a table where the other students are very antsy. During silent reading time, Kai deals with the student next to him dancing and throwing things at other students. This only makes concentrating more difficult.
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During reading time, Kai switched his book with another classmate. I saw that he made the switch and went over to ask him about it. When I asked he proceeded to come up with a plot about the story that was not true.
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The seating arrangement was rearranged, which I feel will help Kai stay on task better. Mrs. Arbel requires her students to make reading goals weekly. She showed me that Kai put his goal was to read faster. Mrs. Abel said that reading faster would only make him not comprehend the text as well.
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I had the opportunity to work with Olivia who is an ENL learner. Along with another student named McKenzie, we worked out algebraic equations by using a scale. While working I could tell that it took her a while to process each concept and there was no lack of effort of Olivia's end.
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I worked with Kai during reading time. He was not eager to read out loud to me because he gets nervous. It is a challenge to evaluate how much he is understanding and pronouncing correctly when he is silently reading. When he read out loud to me, I could tell he was not making the correct pronunciations and not comprehending the text. I realize that in this situation the gift of time is needed because he needs more time to understand the book.
