Attitudes Change

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Attitudes Change

  • January 27, 2021
  • Posted by: Caitlin McCallum
  • Category: Wow Story
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Wow Wednesday Stories from the Classroom

I started working at Immanuel Lutheran School last year. Mid-year, I had a fellow teacher ask me if their child could receive help with math. He had been tested for special education services the previous year, however, did not qualify for academics. The student has a background of anxiety that impedes him from showing his best work at times. The academics have gotten much harder for him. I put him on my caseload as an intervention student.

He started coming to my office in a small group. The first couple sessions he had said he was having fun and even asked for an activity to take home and play with his parents. The next few weeks, the student he was with would come down and I would ask where Jay was, and he would tell me he refused to come down. I had talked to parents and we worked out different techniques to motivate him to get help. In the middle of all this, we went remote. The parents felt that he would do better without help during that time.

When we came back in August, I co-taught the math class this student was in. I noticed the gap in his math skills compared to his peers. I gave him a few weeks to get acclimated to the class and then I sat next to him for the one-on-one support. At the end of the first chapter, I asked him if he would like to stay in the class where I can be close by or if he would like me to teach him in my office where we can learn at a pace where he could be successful. He then chose to go to my office every day. I have had to sub in the other class since then and he comes with me and he doesn’t complain about it! His confidence has been boosted since coming to see me. He is also willing to ask more questions and be more vocal about what he does not understand.

~written by Kasey Mathews, LSEM teacher at Immanuel Lutheran School in East Dundee, IL