For the final installment of reflections towards my PGP, I was going to write about another classroom that I observed. While I think those observations were important, I recently experienced a different kind of observation that I think lends itself to meaningful learning as well. Though I did not directly include KSA's relating to contextual variables in my PGP, the following observation I think goes a long way towards informing meaningful teaching.
In my class, there is a boy who has been there for almost as long as I was in the class (he started on the Monday of our first week of practicum). We noticed he was having trouble integrating, among other things. The school I'm at has monthly meetings to discuss the progress of certain students who have anything from learning disabilities to behavioural or speech issues. My TA let me sit in as she brought up our new boy's name to discuss strategies on how we could make him feel like he was a part of the classroom. I just wanted to give a little insight into how these meetings pan out for other pre-service teachers like myself who may be wondering what all is out there to support our students. Here's how the meeting worked in a nutshell: Present at the meeting are the people who need to help (ie; perhaps some students need the speech pathology specialist; others may need mental health; in other meetings there maybe a behavioural specialist, or there may be a mix of those; in addition there is the principal and the teacher). The meeting opened with a discussion of the boy's general behaviour, known background and any specific incidents that led to the initial concern. Anyone directly involved in those incidents is also asked to share anything that might shed more light on the situation. After that, the boy's cumulative file was opened up - this contains any information about past similar incidents in other schools, more detailed family information, (ie; if and when the family split, what the domestic situation is - is the child home alone a lot? What are their siblings like?), whether services such as Social Services, Child Protective Services, Family Services, Mental Health, etc. have become involved and other similar information. To inform past and present behaviour, the school's file on the child is then opened to see what sorts of behaviours have been recurring in schools (ie; running away, withdrawing during class, suspensions/expulsions, violence, etc.). After this, the focus is on how we can help that child. What strategies can be applied immediately in the classroom? What organizations can be called on to provide further support? Even things like looking into lunch programs, after school programs, subsidized extracurricular or summer programs and mentor programs are looked at. Observing this meeting was an eye-opening experience for me, because I didn't know what kinds of things are out there to help when I'm not sure how to help my students. Even in this short time, it's easy to see how a teacher could become overwhelmed bringing all of his or her students' concerns home, worrying over them and ultimately not knowing what to do. In addition, it was really helpful to me to better know how to approach the student in question during class, and it gave me some strategies I could use to help this student. Relating this back to meaningful learning: if the child is not okay, the child most likely is not learning. If learning is going to be meaningful, it is my first priority to help that child at least cope with whatever difficulties surround him or her.
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Meagan Fullerton-LeeMeagan is an aspiring teacher, voracious reader, tentative motorcyclist, and passionate gardener. In all things she sees education. Here she shares her passions. Archives
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