Analysis of a Teaching Situation

In the classroom it is not uncommon for students to struggle. This can be especially common in
the younger years as students don’t yet have the confidence to ask for help when they need it.
And when the information taught seems so simple and trivial to adults, it can be difficult to
initially comprehend when a young student may not be able to process information.

A situation similar to this involves a young student, who for privacy reasons shall be referred to as
A. Throughout A’s lessons in all subjects, whether or not they were independent or group-based
in structure, A struggled to understand instructions, begin work, and complete it within the given
time frame. A would not ask for assistance. The only factor that proved to be beneficial for A was
direct one on one instruction, question asking, and simple one-step instructions. This required a
person to be with A at all times.

A’s teacher stated that she recognised A struggling when her friend left the school. She believes
that A still struggled in the same way, however coped by copying directly off of her friend. When
her friend left however, A had no way of keeping up and when the teacher checked A’s work it
was clear how behind she was.

The teacher’s first solution was simple. A was moved so that she sat not only directly in front of
the board (as the teacher noted that A often had difficulty reading from a distance), but also at
the table closest to the teacher. This allowed the teacher to more consistently check up on A, but
also allowed for A to begin seeking the teacher herself when she needed help. This was an
effective solution as it allowed for more frequent communication between A and her teacher, but
also did not draw direct attention to A as a struggling student. This indicated that A’s teacher was
aware of creating a quality learning environment in which A would be encouraged to become
more “responsible of [her] own behaviour and [her] learning” 1

Unfortunately, A would still struggle, especially when whole-class direct instruction was used.
One specific lesson was maths, where the class was learning tallying. Students were given
individual whiteboards and markers, and the teacher would require the class to write in tally form
the number that was called out. When the teacher surveyed responses, she noted that A’s
responses were either blank, or the exact same response as the student next to A – mistakes and
all. It was evident that A needed one on one assistance.

At the time the teacher used the only available tool she had – me. She required me as the student
teacher to sit with her and give A more personal instruction. This worked for this scenario as the
teacher could continue teaching the remainder of the class, A would receive her own instruction,
and feedback regarding A could be given from me. The teacher noted, however, that further
long-term actions would need to be implemented. The teacher also pointed out that she noticed
that A’s family were part of the 0.005% of Australia’s population that speaks Hindi 2, recognising
where A may have difficulties in understanding and comprehending English at the same level of
fluency as the rest of the class. It was then that the teacher decided to ask the head of maths at
the school to take A for some lessons to give her direct, one on one instruction, as maths was the
area that A struggled in the most. A would also be given additional maths homework.

1
“Effective Teaching and Learning Strategies”, Pg 63; Killen, Roy; Seventh Edition; 2016
2
Data taken from SBS Census Explorer (www.sbs.com.au/censusexplorer)
A's teacher developed clear and simple solutions. She quickly identified the primary issues that A
faced and initiated an introductory solution. The teacher was also quick to note when this initial
solution was insufficient, and developed a further strategy. This strategy was effective not only as
a solution to the minor problems (difficulty in maths), but also in the issues that A faced across
her whole education. These more impacting difficulties primarily involved working independently
and comprehending English instructions. The extra help given to A by the maths head were
instructed to encourage her to think independently, and it was clear that this began to help in
other subjects. Where A would previously need to ask for help with simple tasks such packing her
bag, what food to eat when, or what to write in her English lessons, she now began to ask herself
these questions, becoming more independent and as a result, confident.

The additional homework that was given to A was also extremely beneficial. As A would take
work home, not only could her parents help her in a non-schooling environment, but they could
also help her in her first language. This simply meant that as A started to learn and understand
maths in the language she had higher comprehension in, she was then able to perform the same
mental processes when required in English.

While A had not entirely overcome her difficulties, it was clear that she had greatly improved. This
is due to the actions put in place by A’s teacher. She identified the personal issues that A faced
and implanted solutions that not only helped in those direct circumstances, but taught “learners
how to learn, how to regulate their learning skills and how to direct their own learning efforts” 3

The only correction to this solution that I would have made is to have identified A’s difficulties
sooner. It was stated by the teacher that she believes that A used to only copy from her friend,
and it could have proven more beneficial if this could have been noted and corrected at this early
stage. This could have been achieved through a better assessment of “learner’s knowledge
acquisition during a lesson”4. Regardless, the solution that was implemented was clearly a positive
in this teaching situation.

Bibliography
Connell, R. (2007). Education, change and society. South Melbourne, Vic.: Oxford University Press

Killen, R. (2012). Effective teaching strategies. South Melbourne, Vic.: Cengage Learning Australia.

SBS Online. (2016). SBS Census Explorer. [online] Available at:

http://www.sbs.com.au/news/census-explorer [Accessed 7 Sep. 2016].

3
“Effective Teaching and Learning Strategies”, Pg 42; Killen, Roy; Seventh Edition; 2016
4
“Effective Teaching and Learning Strategies”, Pg 42; Killen, Roy; Seventh Edition; 2016