Classroom Observation Blog on Student relation to Shalaby

"Troublemaker"

    A child in my Pre-K school placement who could be classified as a "troublemaker" is an African American boy with an IEP. I've never really heard him speak or say anything to anyone. He tends to not listen to the teacher, the teacher assistants, me, or the other volunteer. When the teacher is delivering a lesson on the rug this boy doesn't stay over there for long and tends to walk away and begins to play with some of the toys around the room. When any of the teachers tried to ask him to return to the rug, he would just continue to play with the toys. My first day was my teacher's first day back from maternity leave, so she was just meeting the students and learning their personalities. I heard one of the teacher's assistants tell the teacher, "You are going to have fun with that one". This is a horrible thing to say in front of the students, even though they are Pre-K and might not even acknowledge or know what they are saying. Once, when the student wandered away from the rug while the rest of the class was watching a video about the alphabet, I followed him and tried to see if he would go back to the rug. But after I asked him multiple times and he didn't go back, I just played with him and kept him company instead of leaving him by himself playing with a toy while the rest of the class was together. He also tends to be destructive by sometimes knocking over blocks that other students are playing with and stacking, which causes the other students to be upset with him. But I calm the students down and tell them they can rebuild it better. I also try to give him some blocks where he can build and knock them down instead of doing it to other towers students make. He tends to just walk away and go play with something else and doesn't play with one thing for long. This causes me to believe that he has a short attention span and will need assistance with staying on task.