Eddie
I believe Mrs. Potter
should be thankful that she has a student who has a wonderful imagination and
vast amounts of energy. First and foremost, Mrs. Potter should view Eddie not
as being disadvantaged by his way of thinking, but view it positively as an
ability that allows him to see and do things differently than other students.
By keeping this mind frame, Mrs. Potter will not see Eddie as being a deficient
or ineffective learner, but as a learner that excels at unconventional
thinking. To adjust to Eddie’s way of thinking, Mrs. Potter must make changes
that allow him to focus on tasks he deems relevant and create an environment
suitable for people with ample energy.
The Kostelnick and
Breitfelder articles present some students with paralleling classroom behaviors
and have some effective and relatively simple methods to help focus students
with ADHD or LD characteristics. To help amend Eddie’s persistent physical
movements, the teacher could simply give him something to manipulate to help
focus his energy. In the Kostelnick article, the teacher refused giving Marcus
any object to help him channel his seemingly uncontrollable need to move. She expected
him to just act “normal” and the relationship between the teacher and student
devolved. Certainly, there must be rules to govern the use of such a
manipulative so as not to distract other students or impede Eddie from focusing
on class work. This small adjustment would make a world of difference in
redirecting the physical output of Eddie.
To help keep Eddie focused or
refocus Eddie, a schedule showing him where to go and a work system showing him
what to do would perform wonders. The Breitfelder article details how providing
visual representations that direct action allows students to work
independently. A work system will allow Eddie to look at what is to be
accomplished and what has yet to be accomplished. Providing simply stated goals
in chronologic order gives students a chance to look at their directives and
helps bring their minds back from wandering.
No comments:
Post a Comment