When I entered the credential program, I decided to get both multiple subject (teaching elementary) and single subject credential (teaching junior high and high school); because of that, I had to take a weekend class. Though it may seem daunting because of the extra work load we had to accomplish that weekend, it was totally worth it because we learned about how to teach students necessary study skills that will help their overall performance academically, which will also influence their personal life as they mature. One of the requirements for this class was to do a case study on improving grades for a student, group of students or a whole class. I decided to go with one student.
The past months as a beginning student teacher, I have been working with elementary age students. But, for this case study I decided to go with a junior high student. The student I chose needed help to raise her grade because she was mainly getting D's and F's in class. Being an 8th grader, her grades are crucial to graduating to move on to high school. So, we began working together so as to find ways to improve her grade.
In applying several strategies I learned from the study skills class, I found out that this student just needed the extra attention and motivation to want to learn the things she is learning. She is an intelligent young lady, it's just that her cognitive processing needed direction. I gave her the double entry journal strategy. There are several versions of this technique. The one I advised her was to have 2 pieces of paper when taking notes in class: one for notes to self and the other was for the actual notes to class. The notes to self is a place wherein she can write details regarding thoughts unrelated to the current class, such as how she feels, what she wants to do later, comments about events or people, etc. The class notes were just basic information of what the teacher was teaching. The following weekend, she told me, she raised her grade in several classes and the double entry worked for her! I got so excited! The downside was she got in trouble for writing the notes to self which the teacher took away.
So now, at least, she found a way to redirect her thoughts back to class instead of just "going on vacation" while the teacher is teaching, which really helped her focus on learning. However, I'm still waiting on what my professor would advice me to tell her so that my tutee will not get into trouble again in using the double entry journal.
The past months as a beginning student teacher, I have been working with elementary age students. But, for this case study I decided to go with a junior high student. The student I chose needed help to raise her grade because she was mainly getting D's and F's in class. Being an 8th grader, her grades are crucial to graduating to move on to high school. So, we began working together so as to find ways to improve her grade.
In applying several strategies I learned from the study skills class, I found out that this student just needed the extra attention and motivation to want to learn the things she is learning. She is an intelligent young lady, it's just that her cognitive processing needed direction. I gave her the double entry journal strategy. There are several versions of this technique. The one I advised her was to have 2 pieces of paper when taking notes in class: one for notes to self and the other was for the actual notes to class. The notes to self is a place wherein she can write details regarding thoughts unrelated to the current class, such as how she feels, what she wants to do later, comments about events or people, etc. The class notes were just basic information of what the teacher was teaching. The following weekend, she told me, she raised her grade in several classes and the double entry worked for her! I got so excited! The downside was she got in trouble for writing the notes to self which the teacher took away.
So now, at least, she found a way to redirect her thoughts back to class instead of just "going on vacation" while the teacher is teaching, which really helped her focus on learning. However, I'm still waiting on what my professor would advice me to tell her so that my tutee will not get into trouble again in using the double entry journal.
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