Megan Knight

2/23/2021

Reflection 5

During my student teaching experience so far, the biggest challenge that I have faced is

student behaviors, such as defiance and refusal to do work. Many of my students have difficulties

staying on task, but one student in particular becomes defiant when asked to do work. For

instance, whenever this student is asked to complete an assignment or write notes in class, he

will avoid doing work by putting his head on his desk or by engaging in attention seeking

behaviors. I have noticed this behavior most frequently in the inclusion classroom. I have tried

using some different strategies to try and decrease this defiance and refusal to do work. First, I

have broken tasks into smaller parts, so that the task doesn’t seem to overwhelming in order to

motivate him to start a new task. Additionally, I have also used positive reinforcement, such as

rewards in order to motivate the student. I have also tried to build a positive relationship with this

student because I have noticed that he responds better to teachers that he has a good relationship

with. In addition, because this behavior occurs most frequently in the inclusion classroom, I have

tried to work with this student during pull out sessions to help him with his content area

assignments. I have noticed that many of the students, including this particular student, often

participate more in class and are more engaged if they know what they are going to be doing and

understand the concepts ahead of time. Therefore, I try to prepare this student by previewing or

reviewing what they are learning in class. Finally, as far as the attention seeking behaviors, I

have used planned ignoring when appropriate instead of reinforcing this behavior.

 I am currently student teaching in 4th and 5th grade learning support. In this particular

setting, the students have many alternative opportunities for those who need extra support and

time to meet the instructional goals. For instance, the students have an intervention period

everyday where I reteach, review, and reinforce the skills and concepts they have been learning

in the inclusion classroom. During this intervention period, I provide one-to-one support to

individual students, and also provide small group instruction. In addition, I also push into the

inclusion classroom and provide support to these students in the inclusion setting as well. The

students in learning support also receive extended time to turn in assignments and take tests.

Finally, these students also receive adapted assignments and tests as an alternative way to

demonstrate their understanding.

While planning and teaching my lessons, I try to determine groups of students who will

work together collaboratively. However, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, I am currently not able

to have the students work together in groups or partners. This is because of the school’s social

distancing guidelines. Although I am not able to have the students work closely together, I try to

work with small groups during pull out sessions in the learning support classroom or LGI room

where we can maintain social distancing. When preparing for these small group sessions, I try to

plan who will work well together. For instance, I know that there are three students who do not

work well together because they will just talk and distract each other. Therefore, I would not

place these three students in a group together.