New Stress-old story


Photo by Kristine Lewis via Flickr

This year marks my first in long time of having a struggle class be THE struggle class. Normally I like to do an activity with them I got from NCTM in the first month called “A Matter of Survival,” and the students usually play it out prettty well. This class could not focus for more than 2 minutes! It took me at least 20 minutes to tally their data. (October).

Now they have been struggling to focus enough to understand the concepts...it almost borderlines dyscalculia. Dyscalculia, according to Wikipedia, is " is difficulty in learning or comprehending arithmetic, such as difficulty in understanding numbers, learning how to manipulate numbers, and learning facts in mathematics. It is generally seen as a specific developmental disorder." Wikipedia reference

They've been a distraction to themselves for so long, they missed capstone learning moments to solidify their number theory from the 6th grade before coming to the high school (we only have two buildings in our district.) This is where I had to research and find a common ground where I can challenge them just enough and they feel they accomplished something (not push them forward).

Some of the resources were geared toward this very thing. Dr. Jo Boaler gives some guidance to this avenue through You Cubed.Also I've taken some direction from Sara Van Der Werf's blog to keep it real (when I can).

I've learned:
1. They do better with (color) abstractions than concrete (weird)
2. They can handle short assignments (similar to those on an IEP)
3. It takes a long learning curve to find what motivates and engages them, persistence is key.

When measured at the beginning of the year, are they were I want them? No.
Are they making progress? YES

Learning to celebrate the (littlest) victories is what I need to help this group, where they have made four prior teachers consider going elsewhere throughout their gradeschool.

Til I chalk again,

Mr. Shel

Comments

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