Lupita:
In order to help Lupita succeed in her classroom Mrs. Potter can incorporate some new tasks into her daily rutine and also create specific tasks for just Lupita. First, it is important that she assess Lupita to find out where she is academically. She can do informal and formal assessments to see what she knows in each of the subjects. This is important for Mrs. Potter to do this so that she is able to find out what Lupita knows and what she is yet to learn. It would be a waste of Mrs. Potter's time to be reteaching Luptia concepts. I am asuming that Lupita is a English language learner, since she just moved from Mexico, so it is important that Mrs. Potter encourages dialoge with this student in some way so that she is encouraged to engage in classroom activities. Mrs. Potter can help Lupita pay attention during her instruction by including pictures with words to help her learn the meaning of them. Since Lupita is quiet and probably too shy to talk in front of the entire class, I suggest that Mrs. Potter encourage Lupita to participate in a different way. For example, in stead of having Lupita ask questions in front of the class by raising her hand, she can write them down. Mrs. Potter can check with Lupita after instruction to ensure that her questions are answered. Another important thing for Mrs. Potter to do, is to model. Instead of just giving verbal directions on how to comeplete something, she can also model the correct way to do it.
In order to address Lupita's lack of academic skills it is much trickier. It wouldnt make sense for Mrs. Potter to review kindergarten and first grade material, because it is not fair to the rest of her students who have already mastered those concepts. This means that Mrs. Potter must incorporate these lessons specifically for Lupita. Lupita can begin to learn academic concepts through play and class free time. For example, Lupita likes to do puzzles, so Mrs. Potter could have puzzles that are themed to what they are currently learning in class to help reinforce the lessons, or on concepts that Lupita has not yet learned, but should have already in the past.
I would also encourage her to move Lupita's desk to the front of the room. Having her close to the front can help Mrs. Potter to ensure that she is engaged and not forgotten in the large class. I would also encourage Mrs. Potter to use partner work or small group work to encourage Lupita to communicate with her classmates. She can get help from a partner if needed and can gain confidence in a smaller group setting.
There could be a chance that Lupita has a learning disability. If she continues to not respond well to academic instruction and does not seem to be making progress then Mrs. Potter should encourage the school to test Lupita for a learning disability. It is important that Mrs. Potter does not give up on Lupita in order to help her avoid being help back to repeat second grade. I suggest that Mrs. Potter encourages Lupita to work hard, to model, and encourage her to communicate in the classroom. It is important that she find out what Lupita is interested in, in order to motivate her to learn the second grade material.
I think the informal and formal assessments would be a great idea for Lupita. Since it is common for an ELL student to be familiar with the language verbally while not being fully capable of writing/reading english, it is important that the assessments are read to Lupita by the teacher or another helper in the room. This way, Mrs. Potter will know for sure that if Lupita gets a question wrong, it is not because of an inability to read or write the correct answer, it is because she truly does not know the answer. Also, I really like how you brought up using visual representations of instructions. Something I thought would be good for my student's case would be to actually have a daily schedule listed on the board each morning with a picture displaying each activity. I think this would be very helpful for Lupita. This could prevent her from feeling overwhelmed because her chances of not knowing what to expect next would decrease dramatically. On top of that, if she doesn't know words that are part of the daily schedule the pictures correlating with them can help her learn those words. Kind of like the same idea with a concept map, a word or term is memorized much more easily when there is a picture incorporated. Furthermore, I think it's a great idea that you give Lupita the option the write down any questions rather than share them out loud. The only problem is she may not know HOW to write the specific questions due to academic limitations so it might be more helpful if she just had a conversation with Mrs. Potter to clarify before starting individual group work.
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