Last fall, I completed my observation hours in a sixth grade inclusive classroom. In all honesty, I was a bit terrified to begin observing with the older kids. While younger children simply want attention, affection, and affirmation, older children were a bit more difficult. They still want the same things--attention, affection, and affirmation-- but older kids are usually wayyyyy too cool to admit it. When I began observing, my mindset completely changed. I saw these young people stuck between childhood and adulthood, and they were inquisitive, interested, and respectful.
Most of the time when I was in this classroom I worked with one young man who had special needs. He seemed (to my untrained eye) to have attention difficulties and trouble writing, to the extent that the teachers often assigned him less work than the other students. This individual was immensely creative, kind, and enthusiastic. Still, he struggled in the classroom setting. Instructors had difficulty with him because was too loud or had too much energy or he couldn't sit down and just do his work.
One particular day, the class was working on math problems. The teachers would call on the students who volunteered to answer questions, and this young man never volunteered in math. This time, the teacher called on him to answer the question: "What is 6x2?"
I'm sure she thought that it was an easy question for him to answer. The hands of the other kids shot up in the air, waving eagerly. He looked around frantically, not knowing the answer. Seconds ticked by. Some kids started snickering, and the teacher scolded them. The teacher encouraged him to answer. Others tried to help, all at once, showing on their fingers, or calling his name encouragingly. He fumbled around, finally saying "6." The teacher asked again, "What is six times twelve?" He tried finding his multiplication chart in his folder, and the other students started laughing. Finally, after what must have seemed like an eternity to this student, he found the chart, moved his fingers across the line until he could finally say the answer, "12."
The teacher smiled and told him what a great job he had done. This student sunk in his chair with his hands over his head and told me, "This is the worst day of my life."
After watching How Difficult Can This Be, I came to understand the difficulties that this student faced every day. On top of being teased by his classmates, one question--even one that the teacher thought he could answer-- caused this student to have frustration, anxiety, and tension (F.A.T., as the video describes), along with possibly affecting his self-esteem. The teacher and other students probably forgot about this within minutes, but for the embarrassed student, it affected him on a much deeper level.
Many classrooms are designed to train students to spit out information quickly. I have always been the kind of person who prefers time to think about what I want to say before I get up the nerve to raise my hand and share. Still though, teachers are often afraid of silence. The process of waiting for students to think about an answer before responding can feel uncomfortable, and while when students respond quickly (even if it is the same student who is responding every time!) it serves as affirmation to the teacher that students (or a student) is learning. The problem with this model, of course, is that not every student has access to the information, and many of them are probably not learning at all. I loved the idea of the teacher cluing students in to participating by standing in front of that student's desk in order to give him or her time to prepare a response. Once students are able to prepare themselves and receive positive feedback, they will be more willing to respond in the future as well.
ELLs have many of the same difficulties as students with special needs, and some may have special needs in addition to a language barrier. ELLs may require more time to think about the language before forming a response. They may also benefit from different scaffolds and background knowledge to help them, and all students, understand the content in the classroom.
The classroom should be a safe place for students to learn. Watching the video was an incredible way to understand the struggles that diverse students face on a daily basis, and it can help educators direct instruction to benefit all students.
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