April 4, 2012

Today I got to work with the group of book 3 again. I’m not going to lie I was happy. I am comfortable with them. I have already worked with them. They know how I am. I also know how they are.  Ms. Austin wanted me to keep them on task today.  This group is very dramatic. They are in the same book, but they still are on different levels of speaking. They can all understand though. They are very smart. They tend to leave other members behind though. Some members are concerned with writing down everything as we go despite if we are just discussing it. This slows the group down. I was trying to keep them all together. The best option was for all of them to take turns reading and answering. Today, Jumi didn’t really want to respond.  I haven’t had a student not want to respond. I didn’t know what to really say or do. I knew, in generally, Ms. Austin would ask the students if they wanted to read and if they didn’t she wouldn’t force them. So, I wasn’t going to force her; but I didn’t give up on her. Every time we came back around to her, I would ask if she wanted to participate. Finally, she did. I didn’t know what specifically was wrong with her. I wanted to ask, but I didn’t know how personal to get.  The aspect I love about this group is that even though the Spanish speakers outnumber the English speaker (5:1 ratio), they still help each other. When Jumi wouldn’t answer or when she was quiet, they would encourage Jumi. Out of all the groups, they are the strongest in team work because they are willing to go out of their comfort zone. The Spanish speakers tried to speak English in order to help their fellow classmate. However, there are times they speak Spanish.  I have to remind them to use English. Veronica is one of the students who used Spanish a lot. She is not one of the strongest speakers in English. If she can’t think of how to say a word quick enough she is prone to just speak in Spanish. She knows I understand Spanish too. It doesn’t help her if I speak back in Spanish. I try not to and remind them to use English. Jumi is good at reminding the group also. Whenever they slip into speaking Spanish she yells, “English please.” It’s amazing to see how this group bonds.