World History Classroom Observation

I got the pleasure to observe a ninth grade boy in a World History Class. I will refer to this student as B. B is a fourteen year old Latino young man who lives in a broken home. From what I learned from the other teachers, B’s family has learned that his younger sister has cancer and will be spending the holidays in the hospital. After the news of his sister hit him, his behavior has gotten more and more distracting. He said to the co-teacher, “My life sucks at home and my parents are constantly at the hospital.” This is a young man who is starving for attention and will get it any way he can.
In this world history class of twenty-four there are eighteen students with Individual Education Plans. B is one of four students in the class that have behavior and or emotional challenges. B often shows
Ms. M told me that B often got in trouble with administration for a number of reasons. This put him in a funk but shows me that he cares and does not like to get in trouble. He is looking for boundaries and wanting to do good, just influenced by his surroundings. The problem with B laying his head down, he is losing valuable instructional time and then is going to be lost when it comes time to test what he knows. There needs to be a game plan in place when this behavior occurs.
B is a good young man, just needs a little more guidance as to what is acceptable and what is not. If you do not teach it, then they do not know. There needs to be more re-teaching as to what is appropriate and what is not as well as what is expected from him. He needs and is starving for structure and nurturing. Maybe setting up a time to meet with him after school or during his study hall to come up with strategies that will help him be successful in school will benefit him in the long