Just like the title says...life happened and unfortunately this blog didn't! But never fear I am back and ready to talk about what is going on with my research! I am feeling SUPER overwhelmed with it all but the good news is I am meeting with Dr. B-C tomorrow and hopefully (certainly) I will be filling much better about everything in front of me.
One huge success last week was the introduction of the program Word into my little friend Parker's life. He was being super reluctant even when doing "buddy writing". There were several days where he ended under the table and no writing was completed. He did not cooperate with his buddy and the buddy (also a male student who gets along well with all of the kids) asked me several times if he could move away from Parker. Last week I was at my wits end and dreaded writing time with him because every day was negative. It was completely unplanned for that day, but I couldn't handle another meltdown, and I decided to give him the opportunity to start typing his final draft. Since this is a research project the students had been taking their "notes" and turning them into sentences. They are now to the point that they are writing their final copies. Parker on the other hand was much further behind and didn't even have all of his draft pages done. Once I sat him at my computer he instantly became focused and started cranking out some amazing work. He was even able to go from his notes (just jotted down info from his animal book, but not complete sentences) and turn them into complete sentences while typing. I was pretty impressed with this from a 7 year old. :)
Tomorrow I will snap a photo of his awesome writing and post it for everyone to see! I will also update after my meeting! :)
Wow! What a cool change for Parker! That is so fun to hear! I think as teachers sometimes it is easy to try to stay "fair" with students instead of meeting them where they need to be. It sounds like Parker has the intelligence just not the drive. I look forward to seeing his work!
ReplyDeleteAlso, seems to be getting the best of me this week too. Keep your head up and keep going. We will get through this!
I hope your meeting went well today! I think we are at a difficult turning point in the research process now as we are winding everything down. My mind has been spinning in circles as well. It sounds like Parker was being a little difficult last week. I am so glad to hear he responded to the technology. That’s great that he was even able to type complete sentences. I might have to try this trick with my reluctant writers. I look forward to seeing his work!
ReplyDeleteThat's awesome that Parker was able to turn it around :) I find it interesting that he was hesitant, and what seemed like overwhelmed, by the physical writing process; but when he was given the opportunity to utilize technology, he soared! Why do you think that is? Are these (physical writing vs. typing) two different cognitive processes? I think so...
ReplyDeleteLashanda, that is a great question and I don't know the true answer. Obviously writing is a big motor skill and this student does receive OT both in school and in a private setting.
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