Derek
Derek is an African American boy who misses a lot of classes for music-related events. He is a percussionist and aspires to be a professional orchestral percussionist in the future. His grades for the first two quarters were a 72 and a 52. He seemed very candid in his interview. He rated his focus at a 7, his interest in class at a 3, and his responsibility outside of class at a 3 or 4, “though it should be a 10,” he said. His biggest struggle with English class is that he does not do any of the outside reading because he does not get into the stories. I told him that even the best readers do not get into the stories right away; it takes some time to develop interest. We set up an improvement plan in which he would promise to read the first fifty pages of the next book before considering giving up. Derek also gave me some feedback about class, saying that he performs best when working with groups because he feels more accountable to his peers than he does to his teachers or himself.
Derek Initial Interview | |
File Size: | 3714 kb |
File Type: | wma |
For the first couple weeks of this project, my interactions with Derek consisted mostly of me approaching him either to check his work or to redirect a problematic behavior. He also missed a few days of classes and was late on another day. He turned in his third quarter essay, a vast improvement over his non-existent second quarter essay. However, it became apparent that his essay contained plagiarized ideas, and I made him re-write it, which he did. From mid-March onward (this date corresponds with the beginning of a new unit designed with some of Derek's feedback in mind), Derek started to attend class much more regularly and participate actively while there. I continued to check in with him and redirect behaviors, but he also started approaching me with his individual needs and raising his hand to ask and answer questions. During the literature circle discussions that were part of this unit, I frequently sat in on Derek's group to stimulate conversation in place of another habitually absent student.
Derek Final Interview | |
File Size: | 2463 kb |
File Type: | wma |
In his final interview Derek rated his focus at an 8, his interest in English at a 3 or 4, and his responsibility outside of class at a 6 or 7. Focus and interest went up slightly, but his perception of his responsibility doubled. His rate of assignment completion and his third quarter grade of 83 both support this perception. When asked the reason for the improvement Derek said, "lacrosse," indicating that he needed to improve his grades in order to play a school sport.
There were, however, some other factors that played a role. I asked Derek how his improvement plan and the literature circle unit were going for him. He reported that he had read more (still not the whole novel, but at least half of it). I remarked on his increased voluntary participation in whole-class discussions and he stated that he liked getting his opinion out there. He also felt compelled to avoid the uncomfortable silences that sometimes happen during second period.
We concluded our interview with the writing conference concerning the essay hyper-linked above, as well as a request by Derek concerning the then upcoming in-class essay. He wanted to be able to hand-write it instead of type it, his reasoning being that he tends to ramble incoherently when typing, but handwriting something is "slower-paced, and you get to, like, get your thoughts out." I praised him for taking the initiative to advocate for himself and said that this would be fine.
There were, however, some other factors that played a role. I asked Derek how his improvement plan and the literature circle unit were going for him. He reported that he had read more (still not the whole novel, but at least half of it). I remarked on his increased voluntary participation in whole-class discussions and he stated that he liked getting his opinion out there. He also felt compelled to avoid the uncomfortable silences that sometimes happen during second period.
We concluded our interview with the writing conference concerning the essay hyper-linked above, as well as a request by Derek concerning the then upcoming in-class essay. He wanted to be able to hand-write it instead of type it, his reasoning being that he tends to ramble incoherently when typing, but handwriting something is "slower-paced, and you get to, like, get your thoughts out." I praised him for taking the initiative to advocate for himself and said that this would be fine.