We don't have a lot of diversity in the class that I'm helping out with. I think it's because we're in Utah for one. But I do also live in Herriman, so there's a lot of white people, nearly everyone is.
So with that, there isn't a lot that Mrs. Aston really needs to do to expand the diversity within her classroom, but they're also first graders. I personally feel that the only thing you can really do with that is just celebrating all holidays, learning more about where different people come from: the food they eat there, what they weather's like, if there's a lot of city, or more rural areas, etc.
There is one boy in the class that is farther behind at reading then the other kids, I've been helping him out with flashcards of words that he struggles with and been trying to read with him one on one, but it's hard for him because I don't think he gets a lot of reading at home. Whether that's because of his parents not having time to/not wanting to, or something else, he speaks just fine, it's the reading part that he struggles with. Because I am just volunteering and getting service hours, I don't think Mrs. Aston can give me a lot of information about any of her students. But she hasn't told me about anyone who might have a disability of some kind, I think that would be the only thing she would tell me, was if a student had something serious going on.
I know that we have one girl who is very shy and quiet. so I've noticed that sometimes Mrs. Aston will explain how to do something and then tell this student to make sure that she heard and was paying attention. She tends to go to her own little world sometimes, so I think just checking in with those students who need a little reminder to focus, or are too shy to ask questions or to clarify something. Just being aware of everyone and not miss anything, I think that's very important.
With assuming things, we could assume that with the boy who is behind in reading maybe isn't getting a lot of attention at home, so when he is disruptive in class and talks a lot, that might be the reason. Not judging the parents per say, you don't know what's going on, it could be a million things: a recent death in the family that needs to be planned, looking for a new job/settling into a new job or schedule, etc. I think it's always okay in parent teacher conferences to talk to the parents and let them know that, in this instance: he is struggling with his reading, if you could sit down with him for 10 minutes each night to practice and work on reading for the next week or two that would really help him a lot. He might learn to enjoy it, he would improve a lot and be confident in his reading abilities, rather than saying "I don't know how to read that", he can practice sounding out hard words and not be afraid to get it wrong. If the parents don't have time to do it with him, then maybe a sibling, a grandparent, some other relative, just someone.
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