Wednesday. Seventh grade math, fourth period. Co-taught.
It had been a difficult period, made way easier by the fact the general ed teacher, Ms. F, was there. (I was subbing for the special ed teacher.) A group of kiddos had gotten into some altercation outside just before the bell, and it had taken some time for Ms. F to get them settled and calm.
Somehow Ms. F managed to get through the day's lesson (on probability) and the students were working on practice problems on the online program IXL. (After my sojurn in Mr. J's class, I am now quite familiar with the workings of IXL.)
Jasper raised his hand. I helped him with a couple problems until it seemed like he got the hang of things. I attempted to move on, but Jasper called me over again. And again.
At a certain point, the student is using the teacher as a crutch, relying on them for validation rather than striving for independent working. And once I recognized that Jasper was expecting me to outline the steps for each problem rather than taking on the task himself, it was time for me to remove myself from his presence.
Jasper did a couple more problems. Then his hand was in the air again.
At this point, Ms. F and I were both standing at the back of the room, waiting for other students to ask for assistance. (Most were either working fine or avoiding the work.)
I wasn't going back to "help" Jasper again as he didn't need me. Ms. F wasn't heading his way either.
Jasper (on a whine): "But I neeeed help..."
Ms. F and me in unison: "Awww..."
Ms. F and I looked at each other and laughed. If we were kids (and not "under roof"), I would have said "jinx".
Jasper was not happy his request was met with such derision. The student sitting behind him offered to help. Jasper got the question wrong.
Deep sigh.
He did know what he was doing. I promise. As long as I talked him through it, he could do it. He had gotten to the point where he really needed to figure out how to do it without my help.
Crutches make it easy, but you're so right, he needed to do it on his own. One time and he'd see he was capable.
ReplyDeleteYeah, he did know what he was doing, if he would let himself do it.
DeleteI've been that kid. Anxiety takes hold and you truly don't know. He can be shown it but it's nit registering in the brain.
ReplyDeleteYeah, that was the issue. But I can't hold his hand the whole time. Perhaps if the classroom wasn't so stressful, it would go easier.
DeleteHe’ll get the hang of it eventually
ReplyDeleteHe will.
DeleteSome people just have no confidence in themselves.
ReplyDeleteI knew about math anxiety in school. I'm hopeful your student figured out that he was nearly there and could figure the rest of it out on his home. FYI: The IXL link gave me a sign up page (probably because it knew I was new) and I never played Jinx as a child.
ReplyDeleteIf he had just continued doing what he was doing when I was standing there, he would have been fine. He had time in class to complete the assignment. As for the IXL, I couldn't find a good "about us" page, so I opted for the actual website. There's some info for how it works on that page if you scroll.
DeleteI think my 5th grade granddaughter uses IXL on her school iPad. I'm sure I've heard her mention it as a homework assignment.
ReplyDelete