Lisa's+Journal

February 26th I am working with two students on transforming their fixed mindset into a growth mindset. Student 1: Joseph is a second grade student who is classifies as having a learning disability. His biggest struggles are reading (decoding), his memory, and his attitude towards school and learning. He has a very difficult time remembering informaton which contributes to his difficulty in reading. He is going into third grade and he has difficulty reading the words "What and How". He wants so badly to fit in with his peers, and in doing so, he will pretend to do his work and fake it as much as possible to blend. He will put work away when it's not complete to finish "in time" with his classmates. He will pretend to read and just mumble while his peers read and he becomes embarassed when an adult tries to help him do his work correctly. However, without adult assistance he cannot complete his work correctly. It is a very difficult situation for his and us (his teachers). He is very aware of his struggles and he sees that things are easy for his peers and nearly impossible for him. I am only in the room part time and his teacher teaches everything auditorally (which does not help him) and she does everything at warp speed. He will say to me "everyone else can do this by themselves and I need help". I try to tell him that everyone is different and learns differently, but he is not interested. He simply wants to be "done" with the assignment at hand to be like "everyone else'. It is soooo frustrating for him and myself! Ahhhh...help! I think I need help with my mindset! P.S. Today he said he "hates school" he is only in second grade! This is not good!

Student 2: Valerie is a third grade student who is not classified, she was evaluated for special education services and did not qualify, although she did qualify for an FM trainer to assist her with her auditory processing. She is soooooo sweet and tries harder than most students I have ever met. She struggles greatly with her memory and her mother reports that she has difficulty remembering the names of different rooms in her house. If her mom tells her to get something in the living room, she will ask, "which room is that". She asks almost daily, "which one goes first,the shampoo or the conditioner". Her older sisters make fun of her constantly for her lack of memory and her struggles. Valerie has improved greatly in her reading decoding and comprehension, although it is still difficult for her. Valerie, like Joseph wants to attain the educational success that her peershave attained. She becomes frustrated at herself when she does not get a good grade or has many errors. She received the effort award last trimester and her response was, " I always get that". She was upset because she received 2's and some 3's on her report cards. She wants 4's. She truly stives or perfection and it is hard to watch her not achieve her expectations. Valerie struggles in all academic areas. She has trouble with math and computation because she forgets the process. Her understanding is very good, but she has trouble remembering things after she learns them. Her teacher and I are working very hard to help her understand that she is making progress even though it is not the progress she expects.