LSheldon McCall Fieldwork Journal (Artifact) 02.22.13
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Transcript of LSheldon McCall Fieldwork Journal (Artifact) 02.22.13
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7/28/2019 LSheldon McCall Fieldwork Journal (Artifact) 02.22.13
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Lydia Sheldon
22 February 2013
EDUC 515
Penn Mentor: Sandi Richards
Fieldwork Notebook Entry 4Wenlong: The Power of Parent Teacher ConferencesArtifact: Student Grade Report
Wenlong is a student in 8B who my CM and I have, unfortunately, brushed off as a
slacker since the beginning of the year. In our defense, Wenlong has been a slacker. During
the first marking period, Wenlong received a C in literacy, due to failing grades on major
projects and accumulated missing assignment grades. During the second marking period
(my first lead teaching), Wenlong continued his habits in the classroom. He received a C for
that marking period, too. As for his other classes, his grades were only a little better in
math and science, but dismal in music and art. During the two marking periods, he went
from a D to an F in music, and a B to a C in art. My perception of Wenlong as an unwilling,unengaged student only deepened as I continued teaching during the semester.
(Note: this case could provide an interesting study of consistencies and discrepancies
between data and a teachers own interactions with her students in the day-to-day of the
classroom).
While no longer an official ESOL student, Wenlong is an English Language Learner.
He is one of the four Chinese American boys who began the year by isolating themselves in
side conversations and never handed in exemplary work. Baowei, who Ive written about
previously, was one of these boys. His ESOL teacher, Dr. Marshall, and I all independently
concluded that Wenlong and the other two boys were bad influences on Baowei in terms of
work. Once Bao-weis seat was changed to be away from the rest, his performance and
engagement improved dramatically. (Note: again, an opportunity to study whether Bao-weis increasing ability and engagement in class was influenced by my own increasing
interest him as a student). During the first two marking periods, Wenlong never
volunteered an answer to one of my questions. He seemed reluctant to participate in
general, and seemed to take every opportunity to sidetrack with his friends. During our
Strange and Mysterious unit, he frequently handed in assignemtns late. My impression of
him was that he was sullen with teachers and uninterested in learning. I confess that I
found it all too easy to ignore him as much as possible. Since he was hardly disruptive
compared to some of the other students, I didnt even spend much time analyzing the
factors that might be influencing his work as a student.
Last week, Dr. Marshall and the other 7th and 8th grade teachers held their second
marking period parent teacher conferences. Wenlong, his mother, and his little toddlersister came in for his conference. Ms. Chen, the ESOL teacher, translated for his mother. By
the time Wenlong and his mother came to Dr. Marshall and me, he had been crying for a
while. His mother held his report card and asked Dr. Marshall (through Ms. Chen), what she
could do. Wenlong kept crying, silently, through our conference. Dr. Marshall demanded
that he answer why his grades were poor. She seemed very tough with him, but I felt that
his distress had more to do with his mothers quiet, pleading disappointment than with his
teachers. Wenlong answered, through tears, that he needed to do his reading. Dr. Marshall
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challenged him to say one thing about Edgar Allan Poes stories, and he didnt respond.
Although I agree with Dr. Marshall that Wenlong doesnt seem to have done much reading
during our Poe unit, I have my suspicions that he could have fudged an answer. He was
silent: a confession of his felt culpability for his grades. What a drama! His little sister kept
looking up at me with concern while Wenlong cried and his mother spoke softly to Ms.
Chen. This was the one parent teacher conference where I ventured to speak up: I advisedWenlong to change his participation habits in class, specifically to keep up with the reading
and homework during our upcoming collection on Anne Frank. I told him that there would
be frequent reading quizzes and small homework assignments, and he would need to
invest in these on a daily basis. He nodded, of course, tearfully.
After they left, Dr. Marshall and some of the other teachers seemed dismissive of
Wenlongs emotional display. I credited my pity for him to first year teacher gullibility. The
other teachers remarked that the only way to tell if it was sincere was to observe his
behavior in the coming marking period. I confess, as I left school I didnt have high hopes
that Wenlong would turn around his record.
Its been a little over a week since that meeting. True to my plan, the 8th grade
students have earned approximately 2 (usually small) grades a day. Wenlongsperformance in class has been exceptional. Since that meeting, hes handed in each
assignment. His grades on the reading checks indicate that he is keeping up with the nightly
reading. I could have shouted with excitement and surprise when I saw him raise his hand
in answer to a literary analysis question during the whole-class discussion. In the course of
a week, Wenlongs hand has been up every day. His quizzes and homework show that he is
reading the text closely, and carefully responding to the writing prompts. Im startled by
how effective a parent-teacher conference can be. It makes me think about how effective it
could be if I had paid closer attention to Wenlong earlier, and initiated a conversation with
his mother before report card conferences demanded one. Im delighted to see such a
change in one students work ethic and behavior. Will it continue? At the risk of sounding
like the gullible first year teacher, I think it will!What can I take from this little case study for my inquiry, and for my future practice?
Perhaps the moral of the story is that a teacher shouldnt take her students at their own
estimation of themselves. A slew of poor grades werent affecting Wenlongs decisions, and
I left him alone. What if I had talked to him? What if I had talked to his mother? Talking to
his other teachers wasnt sufficient. I had mentioned him to his math teacher and Ms. Chen,
who knew him from ESOL, and we all had the same despairing attitude. This seems to fall
into the category of know my students families. Im also impressed by the strength of the
cold data of grades here. It wasnt a journal entry or incidental conversation that alerted
Wenlongs mother it was the line of Ds and Cs on his report card. How does that sort of
data fit into my inquiry? Is it more reliable than the meta-cognitive and interpersonal
methods Ive been relying on so far? Regardless of my inquiry, Im looking forward toencouraging Wenlong throughout the rest of the year. Ive already penned some - probably
overeager- affirmative notes on his returned quizzes. Heres hoping!