Professional Learning Journal Entry #5

February 15, 2017

Task: Identify one struggler and one overachiever to get to know

better amongst your group of students. Describe how you identified
each student as a struggler or over achiever. What characteristics do
they display that fit them into these categories? What are each
students strengths and weaknesses in the classroom? What are the
students hobbies or interests outside of the classroom? Create a
short profile of each student and please do not use the students real
name.

STRUGGLER - This student is a struggling student in my third block

academic geometry class. He is a 12th grade student with an individualized
education program and it was specified that English is not his primary
language. He receives extra support in the form of special accommodations
that aid his success in the classroom. He typically takes his exams in a
separate classroom with a specified teacher who works through the exam
with him orally. This students literacy is very poor and it directly reflects his
poor mathematical literacy. Unfortunately he is absent from class very often
and in return misses out on a lot of instruction, practice, and homework
assignments. When he s present, he fails to take notes and rarely writes
down example problems even after being guided through the first few steps
of a given problem. He also arrives late to class quite often and is rarely
prepared (i.e. always in need of a pencil and paper.) To help eliminate this
issue, I have decided to use my Google Slides as a way to aid his note
taking. I plan on printing out the presentations so that he has a hard copy
right in front of him. This way, he wont have to copy down the problems
and can start right away being the first student to ask me questions. This
student is a dedicated athlete, as basketball is a main motivation for him
completing high school. He is always talking to me about practice, game
day, and D1 college sports. Being an athlete at Bucknell has provided me
with a unique opportunity to connect with this student as his interests align
with many of mine. In order to pursue his dreams of playing college
basketball, he knows that it is imperative that he pass geometry and
graduate high school. In order to remain academically eligible, he needs to
dedicate himself towards improving his mathematical literacy so that he can
succeed in geometry. He struggles with understanding the basic concepts
making it difficult to take his education to the next level. I can tell that he
fears judgement from his peers as he doesnt want them to see his poor
literacy skills. To disguise this, he often comes off as seemingly
uninterested and lacking motivation. Going forward, I plan to work with him
more one-on-one where he is comfortable expressing his misconceptions.