Fieldwork Observation #3

Megan Wheeler

EDU 306 Dr. Maruca

Megan Wheeler

Dr. Maruca

EDU 306

9 November 2017

Observation 3

Reflect on your observations and work with your ELL focus student. Make sure to
collect a writing sample and note any techniques and strategies you used and their
effectiveness. Observe the differences, if any, between the ELL students and the Non-
ELL students.

Working with Alexis has been a very eye opening experience. He is a very joyful

but quiet boy who is also intelligent. I have noticed through my observations that his

biggest area of improvement is his focus and motivation. When I have worked with him

in any subject area, he struggles to complete his work at the same pace as his classmates.

He gets behind on his work and as a result, becomes disengaged and uninterested in

making any more progress.

One day, I came into the classroom for observations and Alexis had five different

worksheets that he had not completed throughout the day. My host teacher had me work

one-on-one with him to complete these spelling and language worksheets to try to catch

him up. As I assisted him, I struggled to keep him on task and to get him to put the pencil

to the paper. I had to repeatedly grab his attention and have him refocus. I did this by

pointing to the question I needed him to work on and continuing to provide oral

instruction since that is his strongest area of English Language proficiency. After a

significant amount of time, I was able to get him caught up on his worksheets. He is able

to understand the spelling and language questions to an acceptable level, but needs
support in writing the letters out correctly. Alexis is in need of one-on-one instruction to

give him the support he needs in staying on task.

In comparison to his other classmates, Alexis is not that far behind in terms of

academic proficiency. The achievement levels persist in terms of motivation levels.

Alexis is unable to stay on task and complete his work in the moment without repeated

reminders or teacher intervention. Because of this, Alexis falls behind and is unable to

grow in his language development, as he has to spend so much time simply catching up

during the day. Many of the other students in his class are unable to write letters correctly

or identify their names and sounds just like Alexis. However, they will at least attempt

their work, giving their teacher the opportunity to evaluate their progress. Alexis is in

need of extra attention and proximity of a teacher or aide so that he stays on top of the

curriculum and does not continue to fall behind.