Nature, Nurture, and Getting the Big Picture
Sometimes when you meet a student and have the opportunity to work with them, you begin to think that you have a "big picture" of who they are. You think. You observe their actions, you listen to their words, and you read their writing. You imagine different ways to support them and feel genuinely motivated to help them as best you can. But, can you ever really know the "big picture?" A particular student that I am working with is in second grade, and this is her second year in an English speaking classroom. She struggles with math, she struggles with English Language Arts, she struggles with every thing. When I'm helping her write sentences, I notice she has to refer to the alphabet chart on her desk because she doesn't know the alphabet well. This makes me cringe; it makes my heart clench. How can I help this student write sentences, when she doesn't even have a grasp on the alphabet? Slowly, I'm ...