Week 9: Inquiry

This week was an exciting week for my inquiry. As each day passes I have been observing a lot about what my inquiry student does and how she acts. But this week I began to actually try and talk to her about her actions and am excited to do even more.

            On Monday of this week, I was working with my students and tried to correct her on part of her work. I asked her to sit down and redo some of her work to make it neat and to try a little harder. She immediately shut down, would not make eye contact with me, and stuck her thumb in her mouth. As the day continued, my co-teaching partner and I were teaching a lesson and she was not on task. I asked her to put her book away and pay attention. She did this for a few seconds but as I walked away, she pulled it back out. I sat next to her and asked her to pay attention because we would have work to complete after this. She again, was defiant and did not even make eye contact. As the lesson went on, my co-teaching partner asked her to complete the worksheet we were doing with the class. When she did not do this, I sat down next to her and asked her to move her clip because she had been asked to do things by both of us and was not listening or following directions. She began to cry and make a scene. I took her into the hall and had a talk with her that we are trying to help her and need her help too. After discussing more, my mentor teacher helped me to get her to make eye contact and to respond to me talking to her. It was a hard process, but definitely a first step into figuring her out and how to help her.

            My mentor teacher has been great at helping with my inquiry process. She pulled my inquiry students aside this week and told her that it’s ok to be wrong and to realize that we are all there to help her. She reminded her that everyone makes mistakes and its ok to make some changes to help fix mistakes. I think this was very helpful in reinforcing the ideas I talked to her about.

            There was a big moment on Thursday when my inquiry student took my corrections and did what I asked. She completed a writing assignment and was eager to do her best work, even if that meant taking time to go through and change spelling mistakes or make it better. I moved her clip up to show her what a great job she did and how simple but beneficial taking time to accept corrections can be.

            My next step I want to try is to give her an individualized behavior chart on her desk. She is obviously very effected by the clip moving in class, but I want her to have her own that is there for her to see and realize what are good choices and what are bad choices.