Prompt 3: BROWN

When the students were taking a test, it was done the same way every time. When I was observing my teacher, she always passed out the tests and then went back around to make sure everyone had one and they were all on the same page. Once everyone had a test and were all on the right side, the teacher began the test. There were a good number of students in the class who were struggling with reading in the beginning of the year, so Mrs. Ma’am thought it would be best if she read the directions out loud to the students. This way they could all understand what she was asking them to do. Towards the end of the year there were still some students who did not have the easiest time with reading, so she stuck with her methods of test taking. Another reason she read the directions to the students was because many of them had a hard time focusing. When Mrs. Ma’am read the directions out loud she could look around and clearly see who was not following directions or just not paying attention at all. To make sure that the students would be listening to her, she chose tests that had no directions at the top of them. She chose tests that had the directions in small letters at the bottom of the page. Another thing she was read the directions twice. The first time she read them at a normal speed and then she read it again, but she read it slower and raised her to emphasize what points the students should be paying attention to. The students always got excited when they heard her voice change and when they saw her eyes widen behind her glasses. Although the teacher was reading out loud there were still some students who did not follow along. Some of the students in this class had no attention span at all. These students fell behind quickly and got lost and could not catch up. They got very frustrated and resorted to doing nothing. I was put in charge of these students. I had to make sure they stayed with the rest of the class and helped them when they began to struggle. The students were getting really excited when they were getting the answers and getting them right. They felt so good about themselves because they were not falling behind.

During the testing, the teacher periodically reminded the students of the directions. She basically guided them through the whole test. At this age level the students need a lot of guidance and Mrs. Ma’am did an excellent job of making sure her students had every chance and every tool to succeed. I understand that it was towards the end of the year, but Mrs. Ma’am really knew her students. She knew what they liked, disliked, what worked/did not work for them and she knew how to help them succeed. It was really amazing to see a teacher take care of 26 students and know what each of them needed. One thing I noticed about Mrs. Ma’am that I really liked was that even though she knew her students were all at different levels, she still gave them all the same test. She did not change the test for each student because she knew they were all capable of doing the work. Some students were given extra assistance, but the same work. She knew her students could do the work, they just needed a hand. She did not make modifications, she made accommodations. Lyn Brown talks about either making modifications or accommodations for students with disabilities. Some students had disabilities in the sense that they learned a lot slower than others in the class. Brown said we need to do these things at times to benefit the students and to allow them to succeed. The accommodations that Mrs. Ma’am made were to read the directions to the students and to assign aids to those who needed a little extra help. She did not modify the test for those who would struggle, she accommodated.