Combating the Feeling of "burn out" in Students

Throughout the last week of tutoring I noticed that the students seemed uninterested and annoyed with their work. Upon going over an assignment with a student, CD, I realized exactly how the she,  in particular, was feeling: burnt out. The assignment was difficult, even for myself as a college Sophomore, let alone a high school student that is still learning English as her fourth or fifth language nonetheless.

Over the last few days I have been contemplating different things that can be done from a teaching stand point in an attempt to avoid the feeling of being "burnt out" among students. The first solution that comes to mind would be to offer an alternate assignment or a different version of the same assignment that is slightly less difficult for ELL students. I strongly believe that all students should be held to certain expectations, but those expectations should not be generalized to the entire class. Students should be required to stretch their abilities in order to progress in their education; but, at the same time, they should not be stretched far beyond their breaking point as I have noticed happening to many students of all learning abilities.

Educational Support Teams

Educational Support Teams (EST) were designed to act as a "'think tank' and help solve the puzzle of what is going on for a student and determine what he/she might need to be more successful." These teams meet to discuss students when one or more faculty members on the team have observed a change in behavior in said student or if the teacher(s) feel as though the strategies that they have individually tried are not working to aid in a students success.

Although I have never served, or sat in, on an EST meeting, recently my fellow tutors and I have formed our own EST in relation to the students that we are working with. We have noticed new and different patterns of behavior in our students and feel as though the behaviors they are choosing to participate in will not lead them to the success they want to see in relation to their schooling. Our EST has recently developed our own form to use at our meetings. As a group, we are very excited to begin brainstorming strategies to help our students become more successful in their schooling.

The above quote was found on the Vermont Agency of Education website. 

Tutoring Update

Lately there has been a great deal of frenzy and frustration during and because of tutoring sessions. There have been multiple instances where not a single student has come or one or two students come, but with almost nothing to work on or seeming as though they would rather be anywhere but at tutoring. I personally have not seen the student I had been working with and beginning to form a relationship with in over three weeks. 

I think this is an important moment for my fellow tutors and me to take the opportunity to take a step back and put our teacher thinking caps on to see what we could do to better help our students or encourage them to come. It is so important to remember that these students have lives that we know nothing about. Many of our students have not opened up about their personal lives, which is fine, but this means that we as future educators have to assume that these students have other responsibilities that are preventing them from coming to tutoring rather than jumping to the conclusion that they just do not want to come. 

A few days ago a teacher at the high school mentioned that we should not take the students' absence personally. After thinking about this for a few days, I could not agree more. Many of us tutors, myself included, are still developing cognitively and are working towards getting out of the phase where we are primarily concerned with ourselves. It is very easy to feel as though we are wasting our time by driving out to the high school to have no students show up, but that is not the case. Even if we as tutors are not getting the valuable teaching time in relation to tutoring the students, we are learning even more important components in relation to teaching and our lives in general, which are time management and to think of others before we think of ourselves. 

Tragedy in the Classroom

Today in class we talked about a student that has gone through a personal tragedy that is affecting every aspect of his life. This means that the students ability to focus on his education will be compromised for an extended period of time. Considering the tragedy that the student is facing, it is very important to provide him support every step of the way and to remind him that he is not alone in his journey through this very difficult time. Teachers should be aware of events that occur in students personal lives, such as this one, and be understanding and provide accommodations for the student in regards to deadlines and assignments.

In my own personal life I have endured a number of tragedies that I thought I would never survive. Thinking back on those events it reminds me that without a good support network overcoming difficulty is very challenging. It is so crucial that everybody around the student shows him love and compassion and constantly reminds him that while he does feel alone in the world, he is definitely not. It could also be a good idea for teachers to encourage other students to befriend the student that is facing difficult times. Something as simple as having a peer genuinely ask "how is your day going?" or "how are you?" could mean much more to that student than anybody would ever know.

Initial Thoughts and Observations

WIDA Language Standard 3 – Developing:

• ·      General and some specific language of the content areas
• ·      Expanded sentences in oral interactions or written paragraphs
• ·      Oral or written language with phonological, syntactic or semantic errors that may impede the communication, but retain much of its meaning, when presented with oral or written, narrative or expository descriptions with sensory, graphic or interactive support

The student I have been working with, P.D, seems to be at WIDA Language Standard 3 - Developing because she is able to use and understand, with very few questions, specific academic language for her History and English classes. As she has been teaching me words in her native language, she has written them out as they would be said, or sound, in English in a way to help me better understand and learn the words. Her understanding of phonetic sounds in English is very impressive. She also has a good grasp on many words in English and is able to, in some instances, help me explain them to other students that do not understand. I have noticed that P.D. struggles with understanding academic language in her Mathematics and Science classes, which leads me to wonder why that appears to be a difficulty for her. I am curious to know if it is due to a lack of interest in those classes, whether she has had prior schooling in them before she came to the United States, or if it is a completely different problem that she is facing and I am very interested to see how she overcomes this difficulty over the course of the next few months.