Clinical II Activities: Interveiw

     On October 1st, I conducted a focused observation of a struggling student. This male student blends in well with the other students; however, academically he stands out. I observed the student for an entire day and continued with the interview on October 3rd. On that Monday, I noticed that the student's gap consisted of phonemic awareness.
     The student is way below the second grade reading level which challenges him to complete his work. The student could not complete his given worksheet correctly in Language Arts because he could not understand the directions. The directions wanted him to circle the nouns within the given sentences; instead the student circled the verbs which was a concept taught the previous week. In my opinion, since the student could not read the directions he simply applied what he had already learned.
     During Reading the student left the regular classroom with a couple of other students. The teacher than explained to me that those students needed extra help in reading. Later in the day, I noticed the student was good with numbers when the teacher verbally asked him questions; however, when I graded his math assignment at the end of the day I was able to determine that this gap in reading he acquires is affecting other subject content. The student answered all number problems correctly in the beginning, but once the directions changed and word problems appeared his answers became incorrect. I also noticed that this gap with phonics has created an issue with handwriting and of course spelling.
     On October 1st, I also determined which student I would interview as high performance. I chose this specific male student because after grading papers and recording multiple scores in the grade book I noticed that he has yet to receive a score under 95%. I conducted a focused observation on the student later in the day. I learned that he comes from a very well-educated household that works with him academically out of school consistently. He is very mature for his age and stays completely engaged during lessons. The student was also the first to finish any assignments; he is eager to learn because upon finishing he liked to read books while the other students in the class drawled or spoke quietly.  I only wonder if this student will ever become bored with or distracted from school in later weeks, months, or years because of his high performance level.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Interviews

A. Struggling Student

1. Question: Do you enjoy school?
Student: Yes, I like math and library.

2. Question: What kind of a student are you?
Student: A nice student.

3. Question: What do you do for fun outside of school?
Student: Play with my friends.

4. Question: How would your classmates describe you?
Students: They would describe me as a really kind student... And I'm helpful!

5. Question: Who are you friends with?
Answer: S** and Max

6. Question: What do you and your friends do together?
Student: Usually I invite them to my house but they don't come. We play on the playground at school.

7. Question: Tell me a good memory you have about school?
Student: Halloween walks, I was a transformer; we parade around the school.

8. Question: Tell me a bad memory you have about school?
Students: Bryton is mean; he tries to take the games I play with at recess when I'm with my friends.

9. Question: Describe a "good" teacher or favorite teacher...
Student: My 1st grade teacher is my favorite. Kind, helped a lot, really really really good teacher, I learned a lot.

10. Question: What is on thing you wish your teacher knew about you?
Student: I would tell her I like to collect rocks; I have a rock collection.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
B. High Performance Student

1. Question: Do you enjoy school?
Student: Kind of, there are certain parts of the day good and others not.
Question: What are the good parts?
Student: When we learn something new.
Question: What are the bad parts?
Student: When we review. 

2. Question: What kind of student are you?
Student: I was best of overall student last year and I imagine I will be again this year.


3. Question: What do you like to do for fun outside of school?
Student: I like to play video games, outside exercise, and my jet toy; it goes fast!

4. Question: How would your classmates describe you?
Students: I've wondered about that my whole life since kindergarten. I think the smart kid.

5. Question: Who are you friends with?
Student: About four friends... A****, Max, Ryan B., Bryton. 

6. Question: What do you and your friends do together?
Student: Outside we play alien mysteries. We are looking for space lions; we are on mystery #2.

7. Question: Tell me a good memory you have about school?
Student: When I was in Preschool I went to Jayenne and I went half day and there were always new kids. I miss my old friends.

8. Question: Tell me a bad memory you have about school?
Student: Somebody bullied and pushed me on the ground. I don't know who it was; it was a stranger older kid, maybe from fourth grade. I don't know why he pushed me down.

9. Question: Describe a "good" teacher or your favorite teacher...
Student: I don't have a favorite teacher because all of my teachers have been pretty awesome. They were nice and gave out pretty good prizes when you do well.

10. Question: What is one thing you wish your teacher knew about you?
Student: I have a hobby that I don't want Mrs. B***** to know... I played this video game and it made me fall asleep because it was so boring.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

     My interviews were very knowledgeable and the information the students shared with me not only helped me to understand the students personally, but academically as well.  I learned that my two interviewees were best friends which was rather ironic!
     I was able to help the struggling student with a bullying problem that took place during recess by informing my host teacher. I plan to observe recess soon and see if the problem has stopped or if it is still occurring. Hopefully it has been put to a stop, but the bully is friends with the high performance student and since the struggling student is best friends with the high performance student I'm afraid it still may be occurring because the struggling student does not want to lose the high performance student as a friend.
         I just recently learned that the struggling student's parent is concerned about their child's education. The parent seems to communicate often with my host teacher and asked my host teacher to prepare some extra practice reading work for after school. My host teacher spent her own personal money to create a phonics kit since this is the area the student struggles in. The parent returned the student the next day with a note that was rather unkind to my host teacher. The parent stated that the kit was useless and unhelpful because her son already knows this information. Obviously the parent is in denial because her son has severe reading gaps. On October 8th, the parent sent my host teacher a doctor evaluation form for ADHD to fill out on the struggling student. My host teacher allowed me to be involved as she filled out the required form. In my opinion, this student does not have ADHD, he has severe reading gaps that can be resolved if worked with at an early age.
     Yesterday, I was informed that the parent and my host teacher have devised a temporary plan in the classroom until the student is tested. The struggling student will be read any graded work especially tests. Therefore, yesterday I read the struggling student each question and every answer for his Reading test. The students score changed drastically! Hopefully he will be able to receive the help he needs.
     I was amazed by the responses I received from the high performance student. He is so mature for his age and opened up so easily. I am interested to see if he becomes "bored" with school at a later date because of his response to whether he enjoys school or not. The student stated that he likes school when the class learns something new, but he doesn't enjoy the parts of school when they review. This is a major characteristic seen in high performance students because they learn so fast compared to other students. He was very confident in himself about being overall student of the year; however, when asked what he thinks his classmates think of him he responded quietly and slowly with, "I've wondered about that my whole life since kindergarten. I think the smart kid." This response surprised me! The student is aware that he does perform academically above his classmates. Does this affect him socially and emotionally? Will he need to be advanced in the future?