Media

Today MayZin had the chance to work on her complex assessment today in her math class. The complex assessment theme she was assigned is finding evidence of an afterlife. I mostly looked at her presentation and tried looking for different articles she may be able to use. When I asked her about her assessment she didn’t sound too enthusiastic about it. She moved around in slides and articles quite a bit. I had a hard time trying to figure out what exactly she was trying to do. When I continued to ask her about it she gave me short answers. In all there was not much I was able to help MayZin with today.

            I didn’t have any new assumptions this week, but I did notice a change in MayZin’s academic attitude in her reading class. In previous posts I have stated that I have assumed MayZin seems to not have a strong motivation in her classes. This week, in her reading class, I noticed that she focused on her reading plus work more this week, and she participated better in class. This could have been a push to do better before break, or maybe she was ready to start working harder in her classes. I also know that progress reports had been sent out a few weeks ago. She could have not been pleased with her progress report grades, and she may now be pushing to end the year in good standing.

            MayZin is surrounded by technology all day long. Winooski has a 1:1 tech initiative. This means that every student in the high school has a laptop that they use regularly throughout the day. The two classes that I follow MayZin in uses technology. Her Math class is an independent learning classroom, so she completes and turns her homework in all on her computer. This has positive and negative effects on MayZin and her classmates I have noticed. One of the positive effects the 1:1 initiative has is students are able to work at their own pace. This helps MayZin’s understanding, because she is able to work on a unit until she thoroughly understands it. MayZin also has access to the Internet when she does not understand a concept. However, I have noticed that MayZin and her peers take advantage of technology in the classroom. Many of them will use the computers to watch YouTube videos and search through their social media feeds. They also use their cell phones an excessive amount during class time. I have noticed many of MayZin’s peers’ texting when they should be working on reading plus work. There are many positives to the 1:1 technology initiative, but I also have seen that it needs to be better regulated, because many students are abusing it.

            I continued to work on MayZin’s reading level with her this week. I noticed that she can read graphs well, but taking information and making a graph with it is difficult for her. According to the WIDA can do descriptors the ability to “evaluate usefulness of data or information supported visually or graphically” (Gottlieb, M., Cranley, M. E., & Cammilleri, A., 2007) is not attained until level 4. This could very well be why she has a hard time to create her own graphs. This week she was asked to make a graph of her own with two related variables of her choosing. I tried to give her examples, some of them including her favorite sport soccer, but she still struggled to create a graph herself. She also struggled with solving a question where she was given information and then had to draw a graph with that information. I could see that she could not decipher what information is important and what isn’t. I believe this is because of her reading level, because after many guiding questions and explanations she was finally able to draw the graph.

Works Cited:

Gottlieb, M., Cranley, M. E., & Cammilleri, A. (2007). WIDA English language proficiency standards and resource guide. Madison, WI: Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System.