The St. Martins Experience
It was my first day at St. Martins Remedial Center, where I would spend the next three months working with young students with learning disabilities as well as a few who were studying English as their second language. The atmosphere was conducive for learning with adequate infrastructure and enough staff working on permanent employment. Our objective was assisting learners in understanding basic concepts which they would employ in their future lives. Although the center received a lot of funds from the state, the students’ performance continued to decline yearly. I felt something was wrong and decided to utilize the time to make some changes that would positively impact their performance. Having experienced similar learning difficulties before, I would employ a few strategies that my math teacher used until I got interested in the subject.
One thing that made me feel in the wrong place was how my colleagues addressed students in class. I remember co-teaching an algebra class with Mr. L who had been teaching in the center for five years. Although he had completed a master’s degrees in special and general education, he was unable to post good results. The class constituted six white and four black students. Initially, the students were grouped according to their colors. Mr. L had a strong believe that their abilities where defined so. Although the students interacted freely outside their classroom, it was prohibited during Mr. L’s lesson. All the students looked completely disconnected from the lesson objectives. He would openly discourage them from attempting simple exercises saying, “These are for better students than you.” He could quite often address students as “You fool” and so on. The teachers do not see their “naturally occurring competence” (Rose 216).This behavior vthe students because they constantly believed they were the least disadvantaged.
I very quickly realized this behavior was practiced by a majority of the tutors. Firstly, they believed the students were unable to comprehend simple concepts which wasn’t true. After the lesson, I decided to interact with the students as a group and gather their views about the lesson. To my astonishment, they collectively informed me that they enjoyed it. Of course they did because they thought it was the best way it could be done. They had the notion that they could not perform better because their teachers kept reminding them that they were failures who required remedial classes to do anything constructive (Rose 9). I thought of a plan that I would implement to change their attitudes towards their abilities.
First of all, having experienced difficulties in learning math during my elementary level, I knew how frustrating it can be to be deemed incapable, and worst when it comes from a teacher. As Rose believes, I knew that failure to understand a few concepts does not mean you are incapable of doing something worthy. I remembered how I would do very well in science and world history but my peers would still call me names because I could not comprehend geometry and algebra. My problem kept growing until Mrs. P joined our school as a math teacher who encouraged me and made me believe I could do better.
I decided to create a rapport with the students by engaging them in general discussions. I started by informing them of my childhood challenges. We shared stories of how I was enrolled in a remedial school without success because of the way we were discriminated against our incapability. Just like Rose, I “felt stupid for telling them I was…well—stupid” (Rose 43). The students shared their stories as well. R narrated how he used to be good at English language until his teacher turned negative towards his handwriting. She completely lost interest in the subject and his performance dropped significantly. His teacher hardly read her compositions but instead marked hastily and indicated “poor” on the comments section. I knew he still had the ability to improve and swore to do the unbelievable and restore his long lost pride. M expressed her disappointment having been unable to score average marks in math besides working so hard.
I first grouped the students in two’s and gave them a simple assignment in what they had been taught by Mr. L I sat and watched how they interacted as they solved the problems. I observed that they were completely off and only a few murmured a few words before they came forward and informed me they were unable to complete the assignment. The teachers must have worked too hard to convince them that they were simply underprepared and they could do nothing about it. We engaged in a constructive discussion and took them through the assignment. I made sure that I appreciated their little efforts by praising them. At the end of the discussion, you could realize their faces were brighter and they paid more attention. For the first time, they could ask questions like “How did you arrive at that?” and so on. Responding to these questions was my greatest source of inspiration. I Knew I was going to leave a legacy behind irrespective of the time I spent. As Cole puts it, service to the society is service to self. Their success would be a reflection of my efforts.
I also learnt that learners who were studying English as their second language were discriminated against their races. Although I do not support Rose’s argument that students’ backgrounds do not affect their performance, laying a lot of emphasis on it can easily discourage students. Although some other factors may contribute to students’ poor performance, these classifications do not present the outright picture for all students’ behavior. I could take as much time as I could to demonstrate simple rules of grammar as I could. I had also learned that giving numerous examples to the students would significantly improve their abilities to understand the rules better. I also ensured I gave them take away assignments that I would carefully mark and give positive remarks. The abilities of the students of course differ as Rose notes: “Our schools have always been populated with students who don’t meet some academic standards” (Rose 10). Having this in mind, I would give further assistance to the “weak” students until they could understand the concepts. During storytelling lessons, I would carefully select materials that encouraged good treatment to all people irrespective of their learning difficulties.
After a couple of weeks, I would receive a couple of students in my office seeking for clarifications. This habit continued until the students could solve more complex problems. My style of teaching the students attracted the attention of the other teachers. During one of the weekly staff meetings, Mr. L wanted to know how the students managed to score higher grades in their mid-term exams. He first believed the students did not complete the exams on their own. The system had even convinced him the learners could not perform better than they used to. As we discussed their performance, I informed the group that those students had the ability to perform just like their peers. I explained how negative comments could easily withdraw the learners’ interests in particular subjects. Additionally, I challenged them to learn to appreciate the little efforts the students made having in mind that they had learning difficulties.
During the last part of the school calendar, teachers would freely interact with students because they now felt they could do better. You could hardly hear teachers address students as “you illiterate” and so forth. This harmonious relationship between the teachers and the students improved the learners’ morale. They were thus interested in holding discussions and narrating their stories with teachers whom they previously met only in class. The Blacks would now freely interact with the white students because they believed they had equal abilities. Some of the students who used to be completely quiet during lessons became too active and would often raise their hands up to ask a question. Their attitude towards learning had improved significantly. They would complete assignments as well as group discussions in time and request for further teaching when a need arose. On the other hand, the teachers were motivated by the drastic improvement in performance and put more efforts to ensure they helped the students realize their goals. They easily understood what Rose keeps on reminding us that “lack of information does not mean lack of intelligence or ability” (Rose 17). Besides helping the students perform well in their studies, the teachers motivate them to engage themselves in clubs and sports activities to broaden their areas of competence.
Works Cited
Rose, Mike. Lives on the Boundary. New York: Penguin Books, 1990.
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