Htravisunc's Blog

EDUC 517- BIP UPDATE

After looking through several of my anecdotal notes, I am realizing that I do not have that many. I believe this has a lot to do with the fact that my situation is completely and the make-up of my EC cluster. If I was not teaching, I was dealing with one of the many meltdowns that could have been taking place at that given time. Sometimes these meltdowns from other children required teachers including myself to conference with administration personnel. Sometimes this would happen for several hours and so I tried my hardest to take notes, but it was more of the mental observations as well as in the form on photographs. I was able to almost focus on the group of EC children as well as the individual. This provided me with the unique opportunity to observer several EC children, and not just one. My BIP child has had a major change in one of his behavior intervention plans which I believe has helped tremendously. He was doing very well for part of the second quarter into the beginning of the third quarter, and now he is taking a step backwards. I think that this has a lot to do with the new material that is being taught. He was doing pretty well during the second quarter in math and writing, however the topics began to change and my class transitioned into new topics. These new topics are bringing his self confidence down a bit. For example, we moved from fractions, geometry, and probability directly to number sense.

I don’t think he understands that he is not the only student having a difficult time with the new math topics because the children have not really seen two digit numbers since the second quarter. It is asking a lot of them to not really do this for about two months, and then to expect them to jump right into working with three digit numbers and be able to regroup as well. Overall, his behavior began to spiral down again because he is not as confident and becomes easily frustrated during these blocks of the day.  I have been watching this more closely as the semester is coming to a quick end. I find it interesting that something as simple as self-confidence has such an impact on this child, and his overall impact on learning. I think finding new behavior intervention plans is a constant struggle with this child, and simply adjusting and finding one that works is a good strategy for him. I feel like once he gets used to something, and understands what is expected of him we have to adjust something! I wish I was able to be here for the rest of the semester to really see the progression.

To me it is frustrating to watch him while he is not controlling himself because he is such a smart child and is capable of meeting expectations in second grade. If he continues to try has hard as he can he will reach his full potential and be able to accomplish great things. I hope after I leave he will continue to be a friendly child and reach his goals.