Enhancing Students English Capabilities in Key Areas - Case Study Example

Classroom Case Study: The Case of Nathan Name Course Tutor’s Name Date Classroom Case Study: The Case of Nathan Nathan is 8 years and six months old and is in grade three. Nathan has learning difficulties which have affected his communication levels, and as such, his capabilities in talking/listening, writing, and reading are approximately three years lower than those of his year 3 colleagues. As his English teacher, this case study is a reflection of the adjustments I will make in order to enhance Nathan’s English capabilities in three key areas namely: reading, writing, and listening and talking. In this first part, the three activities will target the entire class with Nathan not receiving any exceptions. Such an approach will ensure that class activities proceed as scheduled and that students who do not suffer learning difficulties proceed with their curriculum without any hindrances. Activity 1 (Reading): Reading a story from the grade 3 English text book and answer the question that the teacher asks relating to the story. The teacher will instruct students to open specific pages and direct them on which story to read. Activity 2 (Writing): Writing simple sentences using keywords that the teacher draws from a text book story and writes on the board. Activity 3 (listening/talking): The teacher reads a story requiring the students to keenly listen and verbally answer subsequent questions that she asks relating to the story. -- Adaptations In relation to reading, Nathan’s teacher will adapt the grade 3 English text book in order to make it easier for Nathan to read and understand. The teacher will rewrite the text book’s content (bit by bit depending on the syllabus schedule) to approximately two grades lower in order to fit Nathan’s reading and comprehension abilities. As indicated by Conway (2011), adapting text “involves adapting both the sentence structure and the vocabulary” in order to improve readability (p. 136). While adapting the text, I will aim at having simple words (vocabulary), short sentences, and lesser content while still upholding the meaning in the initial text. As Conway (2011) notes, the aim of adapting text is to reduce the level of vocabulary difficulties present in text, hence making it easier for children with learning difficulties to read and understand the contents therein. In the reading activity above, I will have adapted the text reading and inserted it in Nathan’s textbook at the exact page where the reading is drawn from. This will ensure that when instructed to open the specific pages, Nathan, like the rest of the class, will find the required reading story. In addition to providing effective writing instructions for the whole class in relation to the writing activity, the teacher will make several adaptations for Nathan. Having taught Nathan for the past few months, the teacher is well aware of his shortcomings in writing. As such, the teacher will tailor the writing instructions to Nathan’s individual needs. Such instructions will be communicated to Nathan as the rest of the class carries on with their writing task. The teacher will ensure that such tailored instructions are communicated to Nathan each time there is a writing activity in a bid to offer a consistent and sustained effort to improve his writing skills. Some of the tools that the teacher will use to enhance Nathan’s understanding of instructions include planning sheets, pictures, and word banks. Assuming that Nathan has problems in generating and sequencing ideas, the teacher will encourage him to talk about the sentences he wants to write first before writing them. Through such expression of ideas by Nathan, the teacher will be better positioned to guide him on which words to use and how to construct the sentence. In some cases, the teacher will also use graphic organisers to help Nathan in generating and sequencing his ideas, and forming them into written sentences. As an extra requirement meant to help Nathan, the teacher will require him to keep a person journal, where he documents his in-school and out-of-school experiences. This will present a fun way of writing practise, while generating personal real-life stories and honing his spelling and vocabulary skills. Nathan and the teacher will then go through the journal checking the use of words and spellings. Getting the spelling right is specifically a concern that the teacher has in relation to Nathan’s writing, and as Graham (1999, cited by Graham, Harris & Larsen, 2001) indicates, teachers should aim at: teaching students with learning difficulties to correctly spell words; teaching them to generate reasonable spellings for new words; teaching them to re-read their written work, check and correct any misspellings; and creating a desire in the students to spell words accurately. Since Nathan has what his teacher considers a very creative mind, getting over the spelling hurdle would be a step in the right direction, since it will enable him to comprehensively communicate his ideas in writing. Some of the adaptations that the teacher will make in relation to Nathan’s spelling include teaching him in small chunks, teaching spelling patterns, and providing him with sufficient exercises and feedback. In relation to the listening/talking activity, the teacher has noted that Nathan has difficulties connecting with ideas expressed through speech, and expressing the same in spoken format. With the foregoing in mind, the teacher will make accommodations, which will include pairing oral instructions with tactile or visual input. The teacher will also use graphic organisers on Nathan, which will be prepared prior to every English lesson and handed to Nathan at the commencement of the lesson. To make it easier to issue visual cues to Nathan, the teacher will also make physical accommodations to seat him near the teacher’s desk. The teacher will also consider giving Nathan a printed version of the story that is read out in class. During the talking activity, the teacher will ask Nathan to use his own words to describe what the story that was read out was all about. The teacher will also give Nathan some extra listening/talking tasks, which he can practice at home, and narrate them to his parents and/or his siblings. This will however require the teacher to work with Nathan’s parents in order to indicate the importance of the extra listening tasks to Nathan’s progress in school. The listening/talking tasks will consist of things that attract Nathan’s attention. For example, since Nathan loves watching cartoons, the teacher can work with Nathan’s parents to ensure that the boy narrates what specific cartoon characters did in a specific episode. The extra listening/speaking tasks will enable Nathan to practise his listening skills in a comfortable environment – i.e. home, and practise his speaking skills with family members, who the teacher will encourage to be patient and encouraging towards Nathan. Through such exercises, Nathan will most likely build his confidence in relation to listening/speaking, something that will most likely be replicated at school. -- Justification Accommodations are defined as minor changes in the delivery of instruction and student participation without a substantial alteration to the curriculum (Laprairie et al. 2010; Scanlon & Baker, 2012; Thompson et al., 2005). The above indicated accommodations have been adopted because they do not alter the curriculum for other learners, yet they are appropriate in handling Nathan’s learning disability. Adapting text is the first accommodation used in Nathan, purposely to work on his reading abilities. As a student experiencing difficulties reading grade three work, the teacher was justified in adapting the text and using clearer words and shorter sentences on Nathan. The adaptation made it easier for Nathan to read and understand the text thus placing him at almost at the same comprehension level with the rest of his classmates. The second set of accommodations made in relation to Nathan’s writing capabilities include planning sheets, pictures, word banks, journal keeping, teaching him in small chunks, and providing him with sufficient exercises and feedback. I adopted the foregoing set of accommodations because they fit into Graham et al.’s (2001) observation that accommodations must be tailored “to meet the needs of LD” (p. 76). Arguably, the foregoing accommodation attains a balance between the informal and informal instructions. For example, teaching Nathan in small chunks is formal, while keeping a journal is an informal requirement. Yet, the two were made based on Nathan’s needs, which include enhancing his content generation skills and spelling skills. The final accommodation is a combination of several interventions which include pairing oral instructions with tactile and visual input; seating Nathan near the teacher’s desk; issuing Nathan with a printed version of the reading text; and giving him extra listening/talking tasks as a home-based assignment. I adopted the combination of these accommodations because being aware of Nathan’s listening/talking needs, I was convinced that they would enhance his capacity to listen and talk. According to Walther-Thomas et al. (2000) a teacher needs to understand a student’s individual educational needs before providing accommodations. Bender (2002) further observes that visually monitoring LD students is important for any teacher, hence justifying the seating accommodation that placed Nathan near the teacher’s desk. The involvement of Nathan’s parents through the home-based extra listening/talking activity constitutes supplementary aids and services as indicated by Eredics (2010), which teachers can use to ensure that the student’s learning needs and objectives are met. It is thus a justifiable approach of ensuring that Nathan develops the listening and talking capacity first in a secure home environment, with the hope that he would transfer the same to a classroom setup. References Bender, W. N. (2002). Differentiating instruction for students with learning disabilities: Best practices for general and special educators. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press. Conway, R. (2005). Adapting curriculum, teaching and learning strategies. In P. Foreman (Ed.), Inclusion in Action (pp. 95-163). South Melbourne: Thomson Learning. Eredics, N. (2010). Support, modifications, and accommodations for students – national dissemination centre for children with disabilities. The Inclusive Class. Retrieved September 7, 2013, from http://www.theinclusiveclass.com/2011/07/supports-modifications-and.html Graham, S., Harris, K., & Larsen, L. (2001). Prevention and intervention of writing difficulties for students with learning disabilities. Learning Disabilities Research & Practice 16(2), 74-84. Laprairie, K., Johnson, D. D., Rice, M., Adams, P., & Higgins, B. (2010). The top ten things new high school teachers need to know about servicing students with special needs. American Secondary Education, 38(2), 22–31. Scanlon, D. & Baker, D. (2012). An Accommodations model for the secondary inclusive classroom. Learning Disability Quarterly. 35(4): 212-224. Thompson, S. J., Morse, A. B., Sharpe, M., & Hall, S. (2005).Accommodations manual: How to select, administer, and evaluate use of accommodations for instruction and assessment of students with disabilities (2nd ed.). Washington DC: CCSSO State Collaborative on Assessment and Student Standards Assessing Special Education Students. Walther-Thomas, C., Korinek, L., McLaughlin, V. L., & Williams, B. (2000). Collaboration for inclusive education: Developing successful programs. Boston: Allyn & Bacon. Read More