Jessica
Jessica, a Hispanic 11th grader, declined to have her voice recorded because she just sounds "too Jessica." In her initial interview, she described herself as moody; sometimes she's in a great mood and sometimes she's in a bad mood, and she spends little time anywhere in between. On a scale of 1 to 10, she rated her level of focus in class at a 7, her level of interest in English at a 7, and her level of responsibility outside of class at a 9. Her grades in the first two quarters were a 63 and a 75. When asked about her own struggles as a student, she said that she simply forgets about assignments. She does assignments in the order of her classes, and her 1st class, Algebra 2, causes her much anxiety. Because she is so anxious about her performance in that class, she said, she sometimes forgets to do the work for other classes. On this same note, when rating her level of focus at a 7 she specified the rating as pertaining exclusively to my English class. In comparison, she rated her focus in Algebra at an 11 and her focus in other classes in the 2-4 range.
When asked her thoughts on my effectiveness as a teacher she said, "I feel uncomfortable criticizing teachers because they've been through school. They know what they're doing." When I offered to work with her to come up with a plan to help her better remember to stay on top of assignments, she showed little interest. She did agree to continue having conversations with me in class regarding the issue.
Over the course of the project, my interactions with Jessica were mostly her engaging me socially or me redirecting her off-task behaviors. Very rarely would she approach me or participate in class in an academic way; this was actually a decrease from her pre-inquiry habits of participation. She was also often late to my class, and my frequent sightings of her in the hallways during other periods gave me the impression that she was cutting some of her other classes.
In our final interview, Jessica rated her level of focus in class at a 5, her level of interest at a 6, and her level of responsibility at a 7. All of these are decreases from her initial self-ratings, and this decrease seems accurate given that she failed to turn in the biggest assignment of the quarter: an essay on the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God. The 0/100 she received caused her third quarter grade to be a 55, also a decrease from before. She seemed very much aware that this essay was the major cause of her failing grade. "It was the fashion show," she said, referring to her participation in a popular senior class fundraiser. "It's all me. It's my fault," she continued, acknowledging that she knows she made a choice to prioritize the fashion show over her school work. As a result, she is failing all of her third quarter classes except Algebra 2.
I asked her for feedback regarding the literature circle design of the unit we were finishing up, which I created in the hopes of increasing student motivation and responsibility. Jessica said she did not like the literature circles because no one in her group came prepared and she herself did not know what was going on in the book we were reading because she wasn't reading it.
Knowing that there were only a few days left in the quarter, Jessica asked me what she could do to bring her grade up to passing. With regard to the third quarter, I told her, "nothing." She was going to fail the third quarter; however, it was 100% in her power to achieve a passing overall grade. I suggested some of the strategies that seemed to work for other focus students like Derek and Harriet. Of these strategies, Jessica said she would try setting aside a specific time period each night that would always be devoted to schoolwork. Given her schedule, we agreed that she would use 9pm to 10pm for this purpose and see if this helps her stay more on top of her studies.
When asked her thoughts on my effectiveness as a teacher she said, "I feel uncomfortable criticizing teachers because they've been through school. They know what they're doing." When I offered to work with her to come up with a plan to help her better remember to stay on top of assignments, she showed little interest. She did agree to continue having conversations with me in class regarding the issue.
Over the course of the project, my interactions with Jessica were mostly her engaging me socially or me redirecting her off-task behaviors. Very rarely would she approach me or participate in class in an academic way; this was actually a decrease from her pre-inquiry habits of participation. She was also often late to my class, and my frequent sightings of her in the hallways during other periods gave me the impression that she was cutting some of her other classes.
In our final interview, Jessica rated her level of focus in class at a 5, her level of interest at a 6, and her level of responsibility at a 7. All of these are decreases from her initial self-ratings, and this decrease seems accurate given that she failed to turn in the biggest assignment of the quarter: an essay on the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God. The 0/100 she received caused her third quarter grade to be a 55, also a decrease from before. She seemed very much aware that this essay was the major cause of her failing grade. "It was the fashion show," she said, referring to her participation in a popular senior class fundraiser. "It's all me. It's my fault," she continued, acknowledging that she knows she made a choice to prioritize the fashion show over her school work. As a result, she is failing all of her third quarter classes except Algebra 2.
I asked her for feedback regarding the literature circle design of the unit we were finishing up, which I created in the hopes of increasing student motivation and responsibility. Jessica said she did not like the literature circles because no one in her group came prepared and she herself did not know what was going on in the book we were reading because she wasn't reading it.
Knowing that there were only a few days left in the quarter, Jessica asked me what she could do to bring her grade up to passing. With regard to the third quarter, I told her, "nothing." She was going to fail the third quarter; however, it was 100% in her power to achieve a passing overall grade. I suggested some of the strategies that seemed to work for other focus students like Derek and Harriet. Of these strategies, Jessica said she would try setting aside a specific time period each night that would always be devoted to schoolwork. Given her schedule, we agreed that she would use 9pm to 10pm for this purpose and see if this helps her stay more on top of her studies.