Clinical Observations #3

On Friday of last week, I met with Mrs. S. She and I went over the things I need to accomplish in my Clinicals/Obervations this semester. When I started talking about the Clinical Case Study, she said "Did Mr. C know this when he placed you in here? I can't believe he'd put you with me for this." So, as it turns out, the Seniors aren't reading a lot be cause of the Senior Graduation Project. However, both of her English III classes are Honors classes. So, she said she would ask around and let me know what they decided I should do to find a student for the Case Study.

On Monday of this week, Mrs. S emailed me to tell me that I will now be working with Mrs. J for my Clinicals/Observations and my Case Study. So I sent an email to Mrs. J and I met with her on Tuesday afternoon. (She has 4th period planning.) She teaches a class called High School Success. The students in the class have either failed English I already, are in danger of failing this semester (and were put in the class after progress reports) or scored low enough on the Eighth Grade English EOC that they are at-risk of not passing English I. All the students in her class read on about a 4th grade level. There are a couple on a 6th or 7th grade level. So there are plenty of students to choose from! :)

This class basically helps to get the students prepared to pass English. There are 3 30 minute session in the class. That's how it's planned anyways. Some days it is different. The students work on vocabulary, grammar, test prep tips/tricks, English homework, quizzes, and assignments. They also have 30 minutes of Study Hall where they can work on any of their homework or assignments.

Every week, they have 15 spelling works. These are commonly misspelled words. This week, some of the words were "personal", "personnel", "ninth", and "manufacture".

On Wednesday I was introduced to the classes. I sat in the back and just observed everything. On Thursday, during her teaching time, Mrs. J split the class into two groups. In every class, I had the opportunity to work with one group. I had to help them understand and analyze poems in the EOC Review books. After they read them, they had to answer 6-8 questions about them. So when they didn't understand something, I would ask them questions to lead them to the understanding. I never gave them the answers. :) (I was excited to get to help them this way!) On Friday, they had their English I benchmark test, so instead of having them have a hard studying day, Mrs. J let the class have a "Mad Gab" tournament. The students had to use things they know about words/sounds in English to figure out the answers. It was very interesting.

I have picked a student with whom I want to work for the Case Study. However, I sent the Permission Form home with her on Thursday. She did not return it on Friday. So, I am hoping to get it back from her tomorrow.

I will be back in the classroom for more observations this week.