Following an Exceptional Learner Throughout the Day
Focus on Student Part B Response: Enlightment on an Exceptional Learners
Interactions with Instructors and Fellow Students Throughout A Typical School Day
Pseudonym Key:
Student=”Q”
Teachers=”M1, 2, 3, and 4”
Cooperating Teacher-CT
This week I followed an exceptional needs students around to his various classes. My
cooperating teacher and I decided to choose “Q” an exceptional needs student who has a
moderate form of autism that has somewhat effected the way he communicates with
others in that he sometimes hard to understand. “Q” in my CT’s class participates quite
a lot in class by asking a lot of questions and answering them. Most questions that he
has are on the process/direction of something and not necessarily the content. He
answers the majority of the content questions asked by teachers correctly. The CT and I
decided that I should follow “Q” for the day because we were both interested in finding
out if his level of participation in classes remains the same or if he participates more or
less in his other classes. We also wanted to find out if his level of participation was based
on nature or nurture and if it was connected to the teaching method of the respective
instructor. I was able to follow “Q” to all of his classes for an entire day. His four
classes comprised of Pre-AP Biology, Pre-AP Spanish III, AP-Computer Science, and
Pre-AP English. In each class there were different instructional activities that were
illustrated and activities that “Q” interacted with. Throughout the entire day I saw a
chiaroscuro of input and output from both “Q” and his instructors which overall was
very fascinating to examine. Throughout the day I carried out a pre-observation where I
talked to three of his teachers with my CT present, then I observed him in his classes,
and then I carried out a post-observation.
During the pre-observation phase I found out that overall he participated quite a lot in
his classes. His first and second teacher had a hard time with him to a certain extent in
that he participated and asked so many questions and that they often had to repeat
themselves to him. The second teacher told me that she had a very short fuse regarding
patience and that this was something that she was working on in regards to her teaching
“Q.” M2 even joked that she was going to start a token system where he is only allotted
a certain amount of tokens/participation points per class period because he was asking
and answering to many. My CT and I concluded that maybe M2 did not have possibly
the training to handle an exceptional learner within M2’s classroom. M3 or the
instructor of the Computer Science course absolutely was thrilled to have “Q” in his
classroom. The instructor told me and my cooperating teacher that he participated by
asking really great thought provoking questions and really grasped the content by
answering the instructors questions. M4 or his Pre-AP English teacher I was
unfortunately not able to reach before the observation to ask questions about “Q.”
In “Q”’s first block there was a lecture and several mini activities on “bio-magnification.”
The majority of the class was lecture based however there was a worksheet activity at the
very end where a student partnered up with their neighbor. “Q” set next to another
student where they seemed like they got along well with one another for the most
part.”Q” seemed to get along in that he was engaged and talking to his partner. I noticed
throughout the entire class that “Q” answered the majority of M1’s content questions
during the lecture correctly and overall he answered 4 out 5 of M1’s questions. However,
interestingly during the worksheet activity all of his questions became process/direction
related. For example, “Do you want us to highlight this” and etc.
In “Q’s” second block the class format was primarily lecture based. However, this time
there was more of a communication component attached to the class in that it is a PreAP Spanish III class where students listened and then translated Spanish into English
and vice versus. This was an interesting class to observe “Q” in because he participated
quite a lot during the listening activities and responding to the teachers questions both
in Spanish and in English. The one thing that was different about this block from the
first block is that he had to take a short chapter quiz. M2 openly stated, “Now “Q” you do
not have all block to complete this quiz.” “Q” was the last one to finish the quiz. I could
tell during the quiz that he got distracted and frustrated easily throughout the
assignment. Throughout the entire class I felt like M2 was frustrated with “Q” because
he raised his hand for almost all of the questions that M2 asked during class discussion.
I also thought it was interesting that at one point one of the students was answering one
of M2’s questions and the student got stumped and M2 stated, “If you don’t answer. “Q”
will have the opportunity to steal it from you.” “Q” was very vocal the entire time
regarding content. He also asked a ton of procedural questions as well like in his first
block. This is where I could tell M2 got really impatient with “Q” in that M2 had to
repeat the directions over for example, “Now “Q” I just told the class what to do you
should know what to do.” I could tell that M2 throughout the entire class period was
often frustrated with “Q.” I also thought it was interesting how the other students
reacted to him during this class in that they seemed to like him for the most part due to
the fact that he was willing to participate and they were not or they did not know the
answer but he did. Some students I could tell got upset with the fact that sometimes the
instructor would not see them and would go to “Q.” I also thought it was interesting
when “Q” had his hand up the instructor would not call on him even if he was the only
one with his hand up.
In “Q’s” third block the instructor had the class carry out a group activity on “regressive
equations/algorithms.” In the group activity students were able to form 4 groups of five
students. “Q” at first had a hard time finding a group to work with and so shopped
around until a group accepted him. The group that accepted him sat essentially next to
him. This group activity was really interesting in that he seemed to work rather well with
them. I could tell though that there were some problems with social interaction like
talking over others within the group, saying something and the rest of group not
responding, and etc. I thought that this class was really interesting in that instead of
having a lot of process questions that he had more content answers to the instructors
and group questions. The one thing that I thought was interesting is that the class
brought up their future AP-exam and the first questions that “Q” had was how much
time did they have to complete the exam and the teacher broke down the time frame for
each section for him.
In “Q’s” fourth block the instructor gave the class a practice SOL to complete. “Q” got
very agitated towards the very end due to the fact that time was running out on him. I
noticed that sometimes “Q” would get really agitated and distracted when people would
move about the room to go to the bathroom ask questions to the teacher and etc. The
other really interesting thing that happened during this block is that the teacher did not
want students to ask her questions because she wanted it to simulate the actual SOL
practice test. However, “Q” asked her about ten to fifteen direction/process questions
regarding the practice test. For example, “Should I do this in first person or third
person?” and etc.
After the day was over I began my post observation. I noticed an interesting trend
throughout the classes and including my CT’s class. I noticed that “Q” had a really hard
time with the process/directions that were given and that he constantly needed
clarification. I began to wonder if his instructors needed to provide clearer instructions
with their assignments in order to help him understand their directions more clearly.
The one thing that I thought was really interesting is the fact that usually with autistic
adolescents they do not talk a lot in class but in this case he participates a lot by asking
questions and answering them. I have concluded from my observation that when “Q”
asks and answers these questions that he is engaging in a learning process and that he is
essentially using this to learn/discover the material. I have concluded that he probably is
both and auditory and visual learner in that he tended to really focus when people were
talking and when he himself was speaking. I could tell that he is a visual learner in the
way he was able to solve various complex equations so quickly during his third block
without the instructors guidance. To me his way of learning is both a nature and nurture
response both. I do not have enough data to conclude either way. I also really found it
interesting the way the different instructors handled/interacted with “Q”. I could
definitely tell that the majority of his instructors really appreciate his participation
within class but I also saw for example M2 getting really frustrated with “Q” and not
knowing how to effectively interact with him. Overall, “Q” is a really interesting student
in that he to me represents an ideal student in that he is inquisitive, participatory, and
etc.