What modifications for learners who are exceptional do you see?

February 27th 2014

From what I have seen, the students in Mrs. Gibson's class get along extremely well and all seem to have similar academic abilities; however, there was one student that I noticed on a previous visit that stood out to me. This particular student was disruptive, had a difficult time working with others, and often complained about the assignments; he portrayed some signs of a gifted and talented student. When I went to the classroom yesterday I noticed that he was not there so I asked the teacher if he was still in her class. She told me he had been sick all week and she proceeded to tell me that he is in the process of being tested for an accelerated academic school. I bring this up in my post because I did not see any modifications for him in the classroom. I know that I am an outsider looking in and I don't know what teachers have or have not have tried in the past. I also don't know if modifications or an IEP has been established for him. All I know is that I am slightly surprised that I have not see any modifications for him. I do know that his parents have recently been updated on his disruptive classroom behavior and according to Mrs. Gibson their involvement has tremendously helped his behavior in class. I don't have enough details to pass judgment on the situation I am just surprised that I haven't seen any assignment modifications or differentiated instruction for this student.  

Comparison of present day school and schools of earlier periods of U.S. history.

       
January 21, 2014
         During this observation Mrs. Gibson was working with her 3rd grade students on writing. She gathered the students on "the rug"which was a corner of the classroom with a big floor rug and an easel. She used the easel to review the some concepts and terminology with the students and then proceeded to explain what their next assignment would be.

          The students were instructed to work in groups on packets with various topics assigned by the teacher. Even though they were discussing the assignment as a group the students were required to each turn in their own paper with their own writing pertaining to things like title, details, one word story, and conclusion. The teacher would walk around to each of the groups and answer any questions that they had and ensure they were staying on task. When the class got too noisy the teacher would say "class" "class" "class" and the students would respond "yes" "yes" "yes" and she would redirect them to their assignments.

          One of the biggest differences between this classroom and classrooms of earlier U.S. history is that students in this classroom were working well together in groups with no regards to the different ethnicities.  Even though students are overall nice and supportive of different ethnicities I noticed they still find ways to segregate themselves.  During one of the group activities in the classroom I noticed an all boys table which made me think of how segregation still exists today but in a different context, in this case gender segregation. Additionally this occurred when students gathered themselves on the rug, some boys gathered themselves with other boys away from the girls, some girls grouped themselves away from the boys. One way this was overcome in the classroom was during one of the writing assignments, for this assignment the teacher pre-assigned groups which helped prevent the students from self-segregation.