Support Services

I would say the my 6th Grade class is the most challenging class I have. There are several students in that class who I have noticed to be very weak or needing a great deal of help, encouragement and attention. I do have the special needs teacher in that class with me, but it seems it is not enough.

There are three students in that class who particularly are challenged in Math, and I wonder if there are other issues there. With the size of the school, there is not much help with these students. It would not be too bad but the other kids are also constantly asking questions. It reminds me of the intellectual development of the child brain and the stages they go through. These kids are not yet mentally developed to think for themselves and they depend on someone to help them through things. I am much more accustomed to independent learners and that is what I am trying to gear them towards. Currently, the trouble I am having is with the number of dependent learners I have, some of which are the smartest students in the class. I don't think they are ready to think on their own yet, but I'm going to continue to try to get them there.

One of the kids that struggles is supposed to be an ESL student and does not understand English that well. In fact, the other day I got on her for having a cell phone out and told her to give it to me. She looked at me like she didn't understand, so I motioned her to give it to me. I had to ask for it about 4 times before she gave it to me. I gave it back at the end of class, but it was upsetting that she didn't give it to me right away.

Today, she came up to me first thing of class and started asking me for things in English. I found it amusing because she was speaking very well and I had no problem holding a conversation with her. When she wants something, her English suddenly improves, funny how that works.

Aaron