ManvirJohal

For my smart goal, I really wanted to focus on learning strategies to help students focus better on their work and redirect their behaviour from something negative to the assigned task. I chose this goal because students with certain exceptionalities, like the ones in the class I am doing my placement in, can have trouble staying focused on a particular activity and as an EA this is a challenge that I will constantly be faced with so it’s important that I have some ideas on how to approach it.

 

I think my goal is one that requires a larger timeframe than the one I initially set out because I felt I needed more time to better understand the students and to able to try out some strategies in order to compile a more complete and effective list. My classroom teacher did allow me to come up with my own activity to work on with two students. For this activity, I used visual aids and showed them a musical video to keep them engaged in the task as these were two tips I found online to help students pay attention.

 

I had quite a few conversations with my classroom teacher on strategies that she has tried to help students better pay attention. She was able to offer me some helpful tips and insights and whenever she used one of those tips she would have a conversation with me about it after to explain her thought process. Some of the more interesting tips she gave me were physical exercise, like just a quick run in the hallway, can help wake up students up a bit if they’re a little out of it and not engaged. Also, colouring, she told me helps to center some students and calm them down in order to get them to sit down and stay focused. The most important piece of information she gave me was when she told me that what works for one students may not work for another and that what worked one day may not work the next. I think this is such an important idea to keep in mind because there is no quick fix, it is a process and even if I have all these tips and strategies in my back pocket, that still may not be enough and that’s okay because there will always be something new to try and that ability to adapt and continue to learn is so important for an EA.