In the video I chose to reflect on, he is one of three students in my reading group.  I can see that he is not very engaged.  He spends a lot of time doodling on his paper.  I work with my group using positive body language, adequate wait time, encouraging verbal and non-verbal language, and prompting questions to elicit deeper thinking.  One thing I notice is that this student is sitting furthest from me.  We are at a round table and he is sitting across from me.  This was the normal arrangement.  Although at times I try to draw him in by asking questions or reaching across the table to point to something in his reading, I see that a lot of my eye contact and non-verbal encouraging body language is going to the two students that are next to me and  engaged.  I may not be looking in his direction a lot, as he is not looking at me. One thing that I would change is having this student sit next to me in hopes that the proximity can help bring him in and engage him more.  I would also make sure that I am looking at all students equally, whether they are looking at me or not.  Although I am aware of his dis-engagement, and I try to engage him with simple questions, I believe that there is more I can do to excite him and motivate him for learning in this reading group. 

 

The exceptional need that I am investigating is Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD).  Reflecting on how my students with ODD have respond to the power of suggestion, it of course varies from student to student, but generally I have found that consistently modeling the desired behavior (academic engagement) with other students is most helpful.  Repeated positive interactions between myself and other students who find academic success and share interesting life events, demonstrates to the student who is oppositional that learning can be fun and rewarding.  The goal being to establish an intrinsic desire to mirror positive behavior.  Direct confrontation and making performance demands only feeds into the oppositional behavior in my experience.

Physically working alongside the student at a table or sitting in a desk next to theirs reduces the oppositional mentality some times.  Using a nonthreatening Socratic strategy to help lead the student to the desired conclusion also can be helpful.  A verbal engagement that approaches the student and topic from a nonthreatening angle can often motivate the student for a period of time.  Establishing intrinsic motivation is the long-term fix but getting positive results in small bits from time to time, can help to turn the tide on learned helplessness.