Alex Koroljow
March 11, 2018 I am trying to finalize an inquiry question. I am taking notes whenever I meet on Tuesday evenings in inquiry groups, when other members of my cohort share about their inquiry projects. My inquiry question as of now can be summed up as ‘how do teachers assist students who have missed classtime?’ I brainstormed as I read through the question, and focused on key words and expanded upon their relevance to absenteeism. Teachers -- the beliefs held by the teacher, do their beliefs matter? For example, teacher’s opinions of how they can best help a student, or if they even care to. Assist -- how do teachers define assistance, do they even care to assist students? Is this heavily dependent upon school? Students -- do their individual personalities matter? If so, how MIssed classtime -- Is there an important reason they missed school? Does this matter? Students: How do you contribute to school? Do you miss being at school? If so, what class? I’m unsure if any of these ideas have merit as an inquiry question, but I will be meeting with Zachary this Tuesday (and Sarah on Monday) which will hopefully help! Two incidents have unfolded that make me wonder if they can be connected to student absenteeism (which is where my inquiry question resides). One incident consisted of a student who essentially boycotted an entire lesson and refused to engage for the entire period. The other incident consisted of a student asking a question that was addressed directly to the entire class several minutes prior to this student asking me in private. This student had not been paying attention, which the same came be said for everyone sitting with him at this table. J: ‘Why is there a triangle when directions ask for a trapezoid?’ Me: (pause) ‘J, we just went over that as a class. Pretty much because the height is zero.” I did not give J an answer that I would categorize as enthusiastic. I hesitated before answering J, and so may have been noticeably frustrated from the student’s point-of-view. I did not know how to respond, because I was frustrated that J had not been listening and now I had to explain something we had just gone over. Mr. Latimer told me not to be afraid to talk to him straightforwardly, and tell students that we just went over it as a class and they should pay attention. I am thinking these incidents can be connected to student absenteeism because in both cases, the teacher is presented with a scenario where they can help a lot, a little, or not at all. With enough planning and preparation, I know that a teacher can have a tremendous impact on students that are absent or who miss key points in class. I just need to flesh this idea out more. I am thinking that teachers should have extra copies of handouts in an easy-to-find place so that students who have been absent can find them easily. A website like canvas can help kids keep track of these assignments. This is me focusing on a micro-level. On a more macro-level, teachers need to come prepared with a plan for how to deal with students who have been absent. They need a system in place to be most-effective (in my opinion). I should ask teachers about the systems they have in place or what they value. I know that Brad values acknowledging that students have responsibilities to multiple classes, and that when they miss one class, they actually miss a whole bunch. This can be stressful on students, so Brad pays special attention to this. I also conducted another interview with another teacher, which I will detail more in my next journal entry so stay tuned!
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Alex KoroljowStudent teacher at SLA @ Center City, Philadelphia. Archives
January 2018
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