Sarah Moustafa's blog

During my field placement in a 5th grade classroom, the students are given a daily puzzle to work on. These word puzzles are very challenging; I myself often have difficulty coming up with the answers when I have a moment to look over a copy. The students have about half an hour during which they can work on the puzzle and start another independent activity that they have selected from a list of assignments that are prioritized. As my visits have approached the end of the school year, I find that the puzzles are getting more difficult. I have also noticed that the students do not spend as much time or effort on the puzzles as they did during my first visit. This can be summarized by the following interaction that I witnessed:

Teacher: “How far did you get on your plexer [puzzle]?”

Student: “Not far.”

Teacher: “How many? 3? 4? [Out of 16 or so]”

Student: “1.”

Teacher: “Try to get at least one more.”

It seemed that this student’s approach was the norm when it came to actually spending time on the puzzle. As far as I know, the students had been doing these puzzles all year, so they may have lost the novelty and challenge that they once have, simply becoming one more thing to do. Over the past few weeks, I have witnessed students who spend less than 5 minutes skimming the page, dismissing it as too hard and moving on.

Sarah Moustafa

2/20/13

Reflective Writing 2

Critical Issues in Education

            In Ray McDermott and Hervé Varenne’s paper “Culture as Disability, the two authors discuss the concept of disability and how different cultures define ability and disability. This article focuses mainly on traits that are commonly regarded in society as being disabilities, such as trouble with reading or being deaf, but I have been considering whether being considered “able” can be a disability in and of itself. While this statement may seem like a privileged one to make, further explanation may shed light on my meaning.

            This idea was prompted by a conversation with one of my high school classmates in which we joked that not having to study throughout high school resulted in us being unprepared for college work. Reflecting on this further, however, makes me think that it is not simply a joke to excuse our procrastination. Because I never really had to study, I never learned how to study. Having the skills to succeed in the education system may be a privilege, but the lack of effort I had to put in to my schooling resulted in missing out on important skills and practices that could help me in the outside world.