Thought I would keep a
journal this year. My third year in the
third grade seems to deserve some documentation.
Looks like a great
year. Twenty third graders—most of whom
are sweet and charming. Brian looks to
be a handful.
Brian wasted no time. Sent to principal’s office for doing tricks
with his eraser during quiet reading.
Had the whole back corner distracted and in stitches. He missed our question and answer period on
the story afterwards. Seemed settled
down by the time they came back from gym.
Sept 10
Brian did not have his
homework today. Was a follow up to
yesterday’s story, which I sent home with him since he didn’t get to reading it
during class time. I sent it home again
with a note to his parents asking them to work with him on it.
Writing in journals
today. Brian wrote how much he hated
school because he got grounded for not turning in his assignment (“I got
grounbed after scool on Friday. Its not
fare.”) Mother called later and asked
about his behavior in class. Said she
felt bad grounding him on Saturday but her husband said that his troubles in
school really started at about this age and they felt they had to be very clear
in their expectations of Brian from the start.
Apparently Dad dropped out of HS, but mom is an attorney! Interesting couple. She says her husband is really smart and
very articulate but never did well in school; works construction now. She doesn’t want Brian to miss out on
education the way her husband did. Seem
like great parents to work with. Brian
quiet all day, sullen and seeming to resent being here.
Sept 14
Brian’s attitude is not
improving. He refused to take his turn
reading today. When I called on him, he
just sat silently. Looked me in the eye
with great defiance. I told him that if
he wasn’t ready to work that we would do some work together after school. That went over really well (not!!!). He was so annoyed. When we got to math, he became engaged for a bit and I fell all over
myself trying to give him some good feedback.
He seemed a bit more cheered and stayed reluctantly after school, but
was not so defiant as I thought he might be.
I asked him to read for me and he seemed to be trying—not so flippant as
when he makes mistakes in class—but still struggled with some of it. I guess it will just take time. Jane (Title
1 Reading Specialist) is coming into class tomorrow—I’ll see what she
thinks.
Jane worked with the kids in
small groups today and found Brian’s skills to be on the low side. Maybe she will do some extra work with him
and a few of the others. She’ll be in my class three days/week for an hour.
Brian to the principal twice
today. So disruptive during social
studies.
Just shoot me. Brian is really getting to be a handful in
the classroom. He is constantly pulling
his class clown routine and taking so much of my energy away from everyone else
and the tasks at hand. Seems a bit
better when Jane is in and working with that cluster. PE, music, and art
teacher haven’t had any problems. Is it just me?
Whoa. What happened to Mr.
Attitude? We saw a film today on the
social studies unit and who answered every follow up question correctly? I could hardly stop Brian. It was as if someone turned on a light. He took in all the information down to
details I thought the children would not be able to process at all. If only he could do this with his classwork
everyday we would be in great shape.
Back to social studies and
the simplest story. Let’s read it
together and discuss. Brian was
disruptive as soon as I called on him.
Sept 25
Brian in a huge fight with
two other boys at lunchtime. Apparently
they were mocking his reading. He did
make a lot of mistakes during the morning but I thought he was at least
trying. I had a phone conversation with
his mother last night about how Brian seems to do well when he tries and she
said she would encourage him to participate—bribe him if necessary. I guess something backfired.
Instead of having the
children read today, I read aloud to them and then they answered questions
orally and we had a discussion. Brian
was in top form, engaged and on target. He really can take in information and make
sense of it very well. He made some logical inferences too that really enhanced
our discussion.
Reports on books we are
reading at home today. Brian apparently
has not been reading. Asked children to
draw a scene from their book and describe it.
Brian has a picture but on questioning it became clear that there was no
book. He was making the whole thing
up—no title or author I had ever heard of.
In fact I googled just to make sure.
More trouble and another trip to the principal.
Jane and I thought that a
book on tape might be a bridge for Brian. We brought in several for the
children to use when they were done with their work and had some “free
time.” Brian saw one about a soccer
player (apparently he is quite the soccer player himself) and read along while
listening on the walkman. There were a
number of children doing similar things so it didn’t make him stand out and he
actually seemed to be interested and motivated to read the book. I don’t know, though. He is not reading at grade level and that
book is a chapter book that is at least grade 3 reading if not grade 4.
Major meltdown during
math—and that is usually Brian’s strong suit!
We had word problems to apply all the things he does so well but he lost
it. He is getting to know the path to
the principal’s office really well.
Tried giving Brian a tape of
me reading the social studies unit aloud to listen as he reads. He got 100% on the comprehension—a far cry
from his average 65% so far. I called
his mom and asked if Brian had ever been evaluated for dyslexia or learning
disabilities, suggesting that we refer him for an evaluation and, possibly,
some extra help. She said he
hadn’t. Seemed a little concerned but
agreed to it, saying he had become so withdrawn with respect to schoolwork that
she was worried. She commented that his
older sister never gave them this same kind of trouble.
Referral underway. Looks like testing will be completed
relatively soon and we can proceed to a plan
Brian came back from his
testing and seemed exhausted. He then did the most amazing thing—asked if he
could stay in at recess to finish his soccer book!
School psychologist asked
for a report of Brian’s classroom progress. She said it would be helpful to
have my observations of his strengths, weaknesses, any obvious discrepancies
between ability and achievement, and any positive responses to
intervention. She is going to observe
him in class but says my input will be central to the evaluation and
planning. I know what I’ll be doing
over the long weekend.
***
Write the report of Brian’s
classroom progress attending to strengths, weaknesses, discrepancies between
ability and achievement, and any responses to intervention. A couple of well-phrased paragraphs will
do. Be sure to offer
documentation. Don’t just give your
conclusions; cite the evidence with respect to Brian’s behavior.
If you feel the need for
additional information (i.e., homework grades, etc) you may make them up, but
they must be consistent with the information presented here.