Learn and Serve 10/21

This morning I went to Learn and Serve. There was a book fair at Gaskill Prep today. We took the class to the book fair and spent about fifteen minutes to look around and purchase things. Only a few students purchased books. Then there was a mini lesson on Gary Soto, the author they are studying. Before they read "Envying the Children of San Francisco," another poem by Gary Soto they brainstormed the things they already knew about Gary Soto and his literature. They volunteered answers readily. There were three extra "teachers" in the classroom today (I put teachers in parenthesis because I am including myself). They had one question to answer in writing about a poem. The number of adults in the classroom helped the students stay on task and there was always someone available to answer questions. They accomplished a great deal today and class went smoothly. I think this is because they had some time to unwind and talk at the book fair. There were only two boys that were having trouble focusing, they were drawing pictures instead of participating in class. Some of the aids in the room were there for these two boys and they did not do much to encourage them to stay on task. The two boys are part of the special education program. I am not trying to assess them, but they could have been struggling due to mild IDD or a cognitive processing difficulties. "The most obvious characteristic of children who have mild or moderate IDD is their limited cognitive ability-the ability to process information. The is a limitation that inevitably shows up in their academic work. These children may lag two to five grades, particularly in language-related subjects (reading, language arts.) (Kirk et. al., pg 156). Almost all the students, special education or not, are struggling in English Language Arts. Some students are at a very low reading level.

The Gary Soto poem was about his childhood, growing up in San Francisco. I think it would have helped to show the students a picture of San Francisco because many of them probably did not know what it looked like. Another problem with imagining San Francisco, or any image, could be a student's inability to do so. This is a type of processing difficulty.