Sarah Nordgren EDUC 342 April 30, 2013 Tutoring Paper #3 The informal assessment that I implemented for

my learner taught me a lot about his needs. I found that Student A did not delete extraneous data, pulled numbers out of context to compute, frequently acted without a plan, often lost his place in a lesson, and displayed a short attention span. He would begin working through the problem verbally before thinking of a careful way to execute the problem. He displayed difficulty in keeping track of the important information and was distracted by the unnecessary words in the word problems. Since Student A displayed difficulty with focusing, organization, evaluating answers, and selecting operations and solving equations, I chose to do an intervention focusing on organizing data in word problems. Since he also has trouble with attention, I made the materials colorful and fun, but also simple and organized. I wanted to make sure that the materials were engaging, but not too distracting for Student A. I provided ample space for him to do his work, a checklist of reminders for him to use throughout solving the problem, and a place to put his final answer. The space for the answer was on the bottom right-hand side of the paper, so that he would logically end up there after doing his computations. I also double-spaced the word problems so that he would have room to do the various steps of C.U.B.E.. Professor Nottis provided me with an informative resource from Joyce Choates Successful Inclusive Teaching: Proven Ways to Detect and Correct Special Needs (2000). The piece discussed a lot of the difficulties that Student A was having,

so it was very helpful to me. Choate stated, Students who cannot sort out facts cannot use the given information to solve the problem (Choate, 296). She continued, Some students, including many types of special learners, have never learned to be organized. They approach all tasks the same way: rush in, make conjecture, and rush out (Choate, 296). As previously identified, Student A was exhibiting these same behaviors and if he does not learn how to organize information, he could have a lot of difficulty with word problems as they get more advanced. I decided to implement an intervention that would help him categorize all of the information from a word problem in a clear and organized way so that he could focus the rest of his attention on solving the problem. This was supported by Choates ideas for a solution: A corrective program in organizing data must include a system for overall organization, with specific strategies for organizing facts Teaching students to use organized lists of steps helps them organize the data of story problems (Choate, 296). The strategy I chose to teach Student A is called C.U.B.E.. I learned the C.U.B.E. strategy for solving word problems from a fellow education major, Charlotte Marks. Charlotte used this method in one of her own classrooms and found it to be successful. Students are taught to use the acronym CUBE to help them organize data as soon as they look at a word problem. The steps are circle the numbers, underline key words, box the question, and eliminate silly things. I was not sure how Student A would respond to the lesson and did not want to go into the intervention with too many assumptions or preconceived notions. I was hoping that the worksheet I created for him would be engaging and fun for him to do. However, I

was slightly concerned that the graphics I included would be distracting to him, instead of helpful, which is how I intended them to be. It is hard to find the balance between grabbing a students attention with exciting graphics and bold words and just creating too much chaos on the paper. I was careful to keep the graphics and text simple, organized, and spaced out to avoid the chaos. So, the teacher and I collaborated about when the best time would be to implement the lesson and she and I agreed that late morning would be best. I implemented the lesson around 10:30 A.M., which meant that Student A had been at school for a few hours and would eat lunch in about another hour. I did not want Student A to feel like he was being punished, so I asked him if he would join me outside once he had finished his writing journal. Other students were busily working on finishing theirs, so no one seemed to particularly care that he was leaving the room since they were preoccupied. I had him sit in a chair at a desk that was the same as the one in his classroom. I sat in a chair right next to him by the classroom door in the small and quiet hallway outside the room. I told Student A that I wanted to work on some math word problems with him again and assured him that the work he did would not be graded by the teacher. As usual, he seemed enthusiastic and excited to get started. I began the mini-lesson by handing him the worksheet I had made for him. It was titled Ladybug Math because Student A had previously informed me that ladybugs were his favorite insect. I thought this would be a good way to grab his attention and help him stay engaged throughout the lesson. He seemed happy to see the ladybugs because he laughed and pointed at the ladybugs that lined the edges of

the paper. At the top of the worksheet, I included the C.U.B.E. acronym so that Student A could use it as a reference while he worked on the problems. I explained that C.U.B.E. could help us figure out what the important stuff was in a word problem so that we did not have to worry about all of the other words and information. I walked him through the various steps of C.U.B.E. and demonstrated each step using the first problem on the worksheet. For each step, we worked together to figure out what to circle, underline, box, or eliminate. After Student A had done each step, he was able to check it off on the to-do list that I included under each word problem. He said he liked being able to see what he had done already and what he had left to do. He circled 18 and 6, underlined 6 ladybugs on top of the log, boxed how many are under the log? and crossed out the rest of the information. Once he checked off all of the items on the list, I told him that he could solve the problem whenever he was ready. He verbally walked me through what he was going to do and then wrote it down. He subtracted 6 from 18 by writing it down and then counting on his fingers to subtract 6 from 8. He moved the 1 down to get 12 and then wrote his answer on the line. For the next problem, I allowed him to go through the steps of C.U.B.E. on his own because he said he would like to try it. He checked off each step as he went and was able to successfully complete each one. He set up the problem (12 5 = ?), counted up to 12 from 5 and wrote his final answer of 7 on the line provided. I checked over his work and praised him for working hard and staying focused throughout our time together. I suggested that he use the C.U.B.E. method for his math work and he agreed that it was helpful. We pushed in our chairs and returned to class just in time for lunch.

Working with Student A has been an enjoyable and eye-opening experience. I had not anticipated that my special needs learner could be struggling in one area and exceptional in another. Looking back, it seems foolish that I thought this, but that emphasizes just how much I have learned throughout this process. Student A often had difficulties with attention and behavior, but he was an exceptional reader and abstract thinker. This taught me to always look at every learner as an individual and to not generalize based on his or her disability or exceptionality. Just like childfirst language reminds us, our learners may have a disability, but that disability does not define who they are. Regarding differentiated assessment, I discovered what an immensely wide variety of assessments there are available to use. Many teachers rely on traditional forms of assessment that are paper and pencil tests with multiple-choice questions. While this may be effective for some learners, there are innumerous other ways for students to prove that they know the material. Providing students with a choice for expression allows for a more valid assessment because it is testing what they know in a form that is comfortable for them. I vow to always offer multiple means of assessment to my students whenever possible. This entire process caused me to realize that creative thinking and organization are some of my strengths. My organization skills allowed me to manage my time well and effectively implement lessons to my learner in a clear and concise manner. My creative thinking made it possible for me to use imaginative means of expression with my student so that the process was meaningful, but engaging and fun at the same time. However, there are always things that could be improved and in order to better meet the needs of a diverse school population, I need to expand my creative thinking

even more. This will allow me to adapt my lessons for all learners, not just ones who respond well to tactile learning, like Student A. I need to formulate effective lessons for learners who prefer all sorts of styles, like musical or logical/mathematical. Furthermore, I need to learn how to work well under pressure and when things do not go according to plan. I believe that I am good at adapting my teaching when things go a different route, but I need to improve those skills even more so that I am not as flustered and so that the adaptations are effortless and meaningful. If I could do something differently, it would be to come prepared with multiple different options, so that if one thing was not working, I would be able to seamlessly switch to another plan. My field experience placement has taught me that being overprepared is always helpful.

References:

1. Choate, Joyce S. Successful Inclusive Teaching: Proven Ways to Detect and Correct Special Needs. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 2000. Print.

2. Marks, Charlotte. C.U.B.E.. N.d. Technique for Solving Word Problems. Bucknell University, Lewisburg, PA.