Exceptional Students

The class that I am in right now has a few children who are exceptional. There is this one boy who is such a sweetheart, but has some learning difficulties. He has a low reading level and Mrs. M told me he came with a psychiatric handbook. It is great how Mrs. M works with him, actually with all the children. In the fourth grade, there is a whole range of level. She has a program that she goes off of called words my way and has a reading program that is specific for those all level; whether it is below grade level average or higher.

This one child in particular has some difficulties, but she takes the time to work with him, or have me work with him during the studies throughout the day. It seems that with every presentation of a new assignment or idea, she helps him to understand exactly needs to be done. There are also some other little students that have some small difficulties learning, and Mrs. M is sure to always have them at the front of the class and easily accessible. She has additional assignments for him, as well as is more lenient with his behavior, yet still strict enough. She knows how to work with him in order to make him work.

            I asked Mrs. M if she has ever had some ESL students in her class, and in her three years so far, she has had some. She said that it was difficult, because some of them don’t know a word of English. The next thing that she said really stuck out to me. She said that if you are teaching the way that you are supposed to be teaching, than it really shouldn’t be that much different than what you are already doing. She even brought up the learning modalities (in different words) saying that you need to teach to all those different ways, and if you are doing that in your daily classroom asyou should be, then it should be not much different with those who are ESL. She also said that you never assume that your students know, you just explain it anyways.