At first, students kept asking, "Miss, can I please go not today?" I reminded them that this wasn't a you'll-get-in-trouble-for-doing-not-much-work talk, but a talk so I could see where they were up to, how they were finding it, and how I might be able to help them more.
After I had explained that, one of my girls - in fact it was Student B - started just talked about a problem she was having (not related to school). I asked her to come and sit next to me, so that we weren't talking across the class, and then said, "How about you go first then, for our conferencing?", to which she agreed. I then added rows at the bottom of the table for 'What else is going on", which was sparked from why she had initially come to talk to me.
During my 1-1 with Student B, she reminded me that it is planned, at the moment, that she leaves at the end of this term for boarding school with her sister. When she mentioned this, I suggested to her that we come up with goals that she wants to achieve by the end of this term - she was very keen on this, so I added this row, too, to the bottom of the table. Unlike last week, where Student B was complaining about the work and the level of the book (that it was too hard and boring), today she identified in our 1-1 that "I just need to get on with my work" and "stop distracting others", and that the book was at the right level for her. My first feel good moment came when I asked her what else I could do to help her, to which she replied, "You're already helping, Miss!" Here is a record of our conversation (note: the 'What else is going on' row has nothing in it, as that is more personal to the student)...
Student B - Tuesday 2 September, P1.
What page are you up to in your written text?
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Eg and Me. Pg 54.
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Where are you up to in the work for your written text?
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Up to coming up with q and a for Chapter 7.
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How is your Reading Log going?
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No. Focus: to fill in your reading log.
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What books or films have you been doing for Reading Bingo?
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Whale Rider - film.
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How are you finding the unit so far?
Challenges?
Interesting?
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Book is weird. Cause don’t know the character’s name.
Right level of book.
Challenge - not putting enough time aside for it.
Interesting - speech - likes doing speeches.
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What could happen/what could I do to help you improve your chances of success in this unit?
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In response to “What can I do to help you more?” - reply: “You’re already helping, Miss!”
Self - stop being a distraction to others
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What might you like to see added or taken out?
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Blog activity for Reading Bingo - “because I don’t know how to do that type of thing.”
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Additional notes/questions
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“I just need to get on with my work.”
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What else is going on?
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Set goals
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1. Finish Eg and Me.
2. Activities for Eg and Me
3. 10 books and 2 films for Reading Bingo.
4. Some of the Reading Bingo Activities.
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The next student who actually had volunteered before Student B was Student E. (It just happened that both students I conferenced with today were focus students.) She had volunteered after exclaiming, loudly to the class, that she had to get on with her work, and that she is always too busy with sport outside of class to do classwork. When I spoke with Student B, this is where my real 'feel good' moment came from. We started talking about 'What else is going on' as this is initially what she wanted to talk about, which is great. No need to go in any particular order. She spoke about how she has sport most nights, and on days when she doesn't have sport she has to look after her baby sisters - plural. So we chatted about her family - it turns out she has 3 younger sisters (12, 11, 3, and 7 months) and 4 older sisters (21, 19 year-old twins, and 16). That's a total of 9 of them! That's a lot 'else' going on.
Moving on to talking about the book, she was able to talk to me about the difficulties she was having. She was finding that she would read, and then forget what she had read. This meant that she was taking ages, as she kept going back and re-reading a lot. We talked about why this might be, and possible things to try. We went through some of the other 'text' based questions, and then after talking through what she had to do for the speech, we got on to what she wanted to do when she left. Student E was very certain that she wanted to be a kindie/primary teacher, but then looked around and started laughing. When her attention finally focused again, we got into how this could be possible, and what could we do to help her get there. On this, she started to well up, so we went and sat outside (where I could still see the others through the ranch slider). When we got down to it, she was open and told me that she didn't believe that she could do it; she could see others in the class doing anything, but she didn't believe in herself. We ended up having a long chat, which ended up with her being over the moon when I offered to mentor her for school. (We have a mentoring system, mainly for borderline seniors and all Year 13s already at school.) Going back inside, we sat down and come up with one mini-goal for her to achieve - reading 2 chapters each night on average (about 20 pages), to be finished when we chat again next Friday.
Here is a record of our 1-1 (note: some things have been deleted).
Student E - Tuesday 2 September, P1.
What page are you up to in your written text?
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Hatchet - pg 38
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Where are you up to in the work for your written text?
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Chapter 5. Wants to read through the book and then come back and answer the questions.
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How is your Reading Log going?
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No.
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What books or films have you been doing for Reading Bingo?
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Question about Speech - what do I need to do? Note: now explained and [student E] understands.
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How are you finding the unit so far?
Challenges?
Interesting?
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Find it hard to read - “I always forget what I read”; “no matter how many times I read it I always forget.” Always been like that. Told to “Keep persevering!”
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What could happen/what could I do to help you improve your chances of success in this unit?
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Set mini goals to achieve
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What might you like to see added or taken out?
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-
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Additional notes/questions
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Going to mentor [Student E]. Set mini goals.
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What else is going on?
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Sports - basketball, and netball
Touch now - every day
Look after baby sisters - 2 - 4 younger sisters total: 12, 11, 3, 7 months. 4 older sisters: 21, 19 twins, 16.
Teacher. Kindie and Primary.
Loves PE and Performance. Didn’t like reading, or read, at all until she read “The Fault in our Stars” by John Greene. Also has now read “The Maze Runner”. Read Greene’s book in like a week!
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Goals
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1. Start book again and read right through. 154 pages. Aim for 2 chapters per night. 10 days aim to have finished. Check in Friday 12th September.
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Overall, I really felt like I connected with both students today, in terms of their English work and as a person. They BOTH came to me at the end of the lesson and said, "Miss, you're really great to talk to. Thank you." I went away from today's lesson with that warm feeling inside. I got what I needed to, checking on how they are going, and made a positive connection. And then they worked!! No complaining like I have been getting. I am going to be optimistic and believe that this was the turning point for these two girls.
